Kill Switch
by WriterFreak001
Summary: Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a thief at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the robber ups the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.
1. Chapter 1

**WriterFreak001:**

I've had this idea for a while, but haven't had time to write it since I was working on other projects. Hope you like this one.

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a thief at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the robber ups the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part One**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

"Twenty minutes to eat your breakfast, Ralph, and then we leave for school." Paige said as she led her son into the garage and pointed towards the kitchen. "There should be some cereal in the cabinet and milk in the fridge."

The boy nodded after dropping his backpack off on the couch and then scampered off into the kitchen as instructed by his mother while Paige, after making a quick trip to her desk to place her purse down on the floor next to her chair, set off to find Walter. The first place she would usually look was the loft, but as she started for the stairs, she heard tinkering coming from the back of the garage.

Eagerly and with a spring in her step, Paige strolled past her son in the kitchen and combed her fingers through her hair as she spotted Walter working on his next biggest project: rebuilding and improving the engine of a race car from an old Formula One model he bought from Italy… or England… or France. Paige wasn't entirely sure, really. As she approached him, he was getting ready to slide underneath the vehicle, but when he saw Paige, he pushed himself off of the scooter and waltzed right up to her. He reached beside her, grabbed a rag off of his workbench and wiped the oil and grime off of his palms before shoving the rag into his pocket. "Is it… almost 8 am already?"

"Almost," Paige laughed as she grabbed both of his hands and tugged him to the kitchen. As Walter smiled and waved at Ralph, Paige ripped a few paper towels off of the rack and dampened them with water before bringing them to Walter's face to wipe off some oil residue from his cheek and forehead. "There," she lightly caressed his face and grinned, "All better."

"Paige," Walter cleared his throat to prompt her to be aware of the others in the garage and nodded towards the back of the garage, "Mind assisting me with something? My hands are, uh," he let out a nervous laugh, "too large…."

"Oh," Paige played along and bit her lip, "Of course."

Walter led her towards the race car and then made an abrupt turn, leading her up the ramp towards his loft. The moment they entered through the side door of the loft, lips were sewn together and hands went exploring. Paige's fingers curled through Walter's hair, and his palms cupped her face, holding her face to his so she couldn't pull away if she had wanted to. Eventually, they found their way to the couch facing away from the main entrance to the loft, and Walter hovered over the young mother as his hands glided underneath her shirt and pushed her bra upwards before gently kneading her breasts with his fingers. She moaned deeply into his mouth and was about to grab his hand and shove it down her pants when…

Walter's watch alarm went off.

They both withdrew from each other and sighed.

"Our lives would be so much easier if we didn't have to sneak around…," Paige muttered as she readjusted her bra and straightened out her shirt.

"I know…," Walter scratched his head after fixing his tie, "It's just…."

Paige lightly kissed him and smiled. "Complicated?"

"Yeah…."

"Maybe it's time we tell everyone, though." Paige squeezed Walter's hand. "We _have_ been dating for almost a year under the radar; I'm surprised they haven't picked up on it yet."

"If they have," Walter pursed his lips and pushed himself off of the couch before helping Paige to her feet, "then they've been really good about keeping it to themselves…."

"I'm surprised _Ralph_ hasn't spilt the beans yet," Paige combed her fingers through her hair and laughed. "He's been keeping _us_ a secret for months, and," Paige pulled Walter into another kiss as she brought his hands to her abdomen, "in a few months, it's going to be impossible for us to keep _us_ a secret."

"I know," Walter nodded visibly as he gently rubbed her lower belly. "I'm just not sure how well they'll take the news…. I've been pretty adamant about my stance on workplace entanglements in order to hide our relationship so..."

"Hey," Paige cupped his face and kissed his nose. "They'll be fine with it. They have to be. And besides," Paige lightly kissed Walter's lips, "in spite of your 'stance' on workplace relationships, Toby and Happy have had an on and off relationship for the past eight months with or without your blessing so I doubt they'll care either way. I mean, right now, they're not currently dating, but if history's bound to repeat itself, they'll probably start dating again within the month. And who knows," she playfully shrugged as she smoothed out Walter's shirt, "maybe they'll actually stay together next time."

"Whatever they decide," Walter dropped to his knees and rose Paige's blouse up a few inches to kiss her bellybutton, "they're strange relationship hopefully won't affect business."

Paige shrugged again. "It hasn't in the past so I doubt it ever will."

Walter's second alarm suddenly beeped.

"Oh God," Paige's eyes popped open. "I've gotta get Ralph to school," she then checked her own watch, "and then get to the bank before the morning rush so I can get back here before Cabe arrives!"

As she started for the door, Walter grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him. "I'll take Ralph to school," he smiled. "You just worry about going to the bank, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Paige asked as she ran her fingers through her boyfriend's dark curls and slowly massaged his scalp.

Walter smiled as his eyes met hers. "Absolutely. And," he rose to his feet and kissed her forehead, "when you come back, you can rest in my bedroom until Cabe arrives with our next case."

Paige grinned softly and gently kissed Walter's lips. "That sounds lovely." After touching her nose to his, they made their way to Walter's bathroom to check their appearances, clean off and fix any evidence from their hasty make-out session and then crept back down the ramp. They scurried over to Walter's race car and then walked towards the kitchen like the _professional colleagues_ they were, finding Ralph still sitting at the table, finishing up his breakfast.

"Ralph," Paige ruffled her son's hair and then lifted his backpack off of the floor, "Walter's going to take you to school this morning so that I can go to the bank."

"Cool," Ralph grinned as he scooted away from the table to place his dishes in the sink.

"And after school," Paige bent down and kissed her son's temple, "or, should I say, after work, we'll both pick you up and take you to get some ice cream." Paige then looked at Walter for approval, and the super genius smiled with a small nod. "I scoop swear."

Ralph gave his mother a quick hug and beamed. "Looking forward to it." After Ralph slipped his backpack over his shoulders, he raced to the back of the garage towards Walter's car.

The couple laughed as they both followed. "Be safe," Paige muttered to Walter as soon as she knew they were out of sight and out of earshot from the others. She leaned into him and kissed him lightly. "You know how nervous I get whenever you drive that car."

"Don't worry," Walter chuckled as he unlocked his Datsun. "I've been through worse."

"Which is why you still driving this heap of junk worries me," Paige whispered as both Walter and her son climbed into the Datsun. "Promise me you'll at least think about getting a new car when…," her voice trailed off as her hand automatically touched her lower abdomen. "Please?"

Walter closed the door and rolled down the window. "I'll think about it."

"Good." Paige, feeling a little bit more at ease, smiled and leaned through the open window to kiss her boyfriend. "I'm glad." She then waved her son goodbye and wished him to have a good day before stepping away from the vehicle.

And as she watched her boyfriend and her son disappear down the road, something didn't sit well with her, and she couldn't help but worry.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Paige, after eating a second breakfast and feeling a little bit better about the safety of her two favorite people once Walter called to let her know he was on his way back to the garage, eventually left for the bank, telling the others she'd return within the hour. Much to her disappointment, however, there were at least ten people already in line when she arrived.

She really shouldn't have had that second breakfast.

After fifteen minutes of waiting and hardly moving, Paige was growing impatient and was seriously considering storming up to the front to demand to know what was taking so long, but spotting a suspicious person caught her immediate attention. He was wearing mostly all black, and he was slowly making his way to the front of the line. She immediately felt sick again and carefully pulled out her phone. She stepped out of line and sidestepped towards a marble bench before calling Walter's cell.

He answered by the second ring.

"Paige? Is everything all right?"

"I don't know," Paige let out a deep breath. "I… I think something's about to go down at the bank…. At least one man was making his way to the front of the line, and he didn't look happy. Maybe I'm just paranoid…. I don't know, but I'm not getting a good vibe from them."

"Where are you?"

"I'm sitting on a bench near the far corner of the bank." Paige whispered quietly as she tried controlling her breathing. Now was not the time to throw up. "Oh, God, Walter, I can see his gun," she quietly yelped, "He has a gun!"

"Stay calm, Paige. Don't draw any attention to you." Walter whispered through the phone. "If you can, once chaos ensues, bolt for the bathroom and hide."

"Okay," Paige swallowed the lump in her throat and suppressed the need to throw-up. "Walter," she hugged her phone to her ear with her shoulder and instinctively wrapped her arms around her lower abdomen, "I'm scared."

"I know," her boyfriend's voice was soft and nervous. He didn't seem too confident either. "Paige, b—"

Paige froze with fear when the man pulled out his gun and suddenly shot the security guard in the chest. "Nobody leaves this bank," he shouted as he pushed his gun against an elderly woman's temple.

Paige's phone fell onto the floor.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

I struggled with the ending a little bit, but I hope it's okay for you. :) Let me know what you think! :D


	2. Chapter 2

**WriterFreak001:**

Sorry for the delay. I've been busy with Real Life and had a little bit of writer's block for this story, but… I think I know where I want it to go now.

I don't know a lot about certain protocols for hostage situations; I'm basing my knowledge off of the Internet and TV so if something is definitely wrong, please let me know. Thanks!

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Two**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

Paige could hear blaring sirens surrounding the bank, and hoped to God that Walter and the team would be able to figure something out. They always did, and, even though she felt like vomiting all over the bank floor right now, she had to have faith that Scorpion would come through; she believed in her team, and her belief in Scorpion, currently, was the only trump-card she had. The thief, or whoever he was, didn't know what Scorpion was capable of, and she hoped, for her sake, he wouldn't notice her phone still on the floor in front of her.

She had been too scared to move a single muscle. For all she knew, the thief didn't know she was there, sitting on the bench, angled behind him. For her baby's sake, she had to remain as calm as possible; panicking wouldn't help her situation. She needed to do as Walter suggested and find someplace to hide. She carefully scanned the room for the restrooms, but they were too far away from her. The armed man would surely notice her sneaking over there. She, very slowly, turned her head and spotted a staircase facing away from the thief.

Hiding in the upstairs bathroom would be her best bet.

"WHO CALLED THE COPS?!" The man suddenly screamed, forcing Paige to snap her eyes back towards him. No one dared answer. "I SAID," he yanked on the elderly woman's long silvery braid and shoved his gun into her mouth, "WHO CALLED THE COPS!?"

Paige glanced at her phone and was about to give herself up when a middle-aged man in military camouflage, took a step forward and said, "It was me," his voice showed no sign of fear as he walked towards the robber with his hands in the air. "I did it."

Without warning, the man threw the elderly woman down and shot the military official pointblank in the stomach, causing a crowd of screams from everybody. Paige, as horrified as she was, bit her tongue and suppressed her reaction. She needed to stay strong and calm.

She needed to keep her baby safe at all cost.

The most she could do was look away and close her eyes.

"You," the man snapped, causing Paige to open her eyes again. He had his gun pointed at a bank teller and demanded, "If you want to live, I suggest you open that fault in the corner over there," he pointed in Paige's direction, and she froze. Her plan for hiding wasn't an option anymore.

As the bank teller passed Paige and scurried towards the vault, the thief commanded everyone to gather to where he could see them, but when no one moved, he aimed his gun towards a surveillance camera and fired a warning shot. "MOVE!"

He then shot all of the cameras, one by one, until they were all destroyed.

Paige knew there was no chance to run for the stairs anymore. He would surely notice. Before she congregated with everyone else, she kicked her phone underneath the bench, hoping and praying the man wouldn't find it. Once the vault was opened, the thief stormed to the metal door and pushed the teller inside, ordering everyone else to follow if they wanted to live. People from left and right, in a panic frenzy, scrambled towards the vault, pushing and shoving each other, desperately wanting to be as far away from the thief as possible.

Something about the man didn't sit right with Paige as she followed the mass of people in front of her; if he was just an ordinary thief, wanting money, he would be demanding the teller to open the cash drawers and steal everything that's inside the vault, but instead, he ordered everyone to file inside. He had killed two people already so it wasn't like he was afraid to shoot if desired. Just exactly what was this man's angle? What did he want? And… why a bank?

For some reason, Paige's instincts told her she wasn't going to like the answer.

"Stop right there," the man gripped Paige's shoulder as she passed him. "You're staying here."

Paige's throat tightened as her eyes met his. "W-what?"

"You heard me," he twisted her around and kicked the vault closed, muffling the herd of desperate people crying for help. Paige felt the muzzle of his gun against the back of her shoulder as he forced her towards the stairs. "You and I are going to have a little chat."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

"Paige! _Paige!_ " Walter yelled loudly into his phone the second he heard the gunshot, but she didn't answer. "Paige! Are you there?!"

Still nothing.

"Paige!" He shouted louder, his voice echoing from the loft to the lower level of the garage, causing all pairs of eyes to look towards the stairs as the genius scrambled down two steps at a time and bolted for his desk.

It didn't take long for Happy, Toby, Sylvester and Cabe to circle around Walter's desk as he quietly typed away on his computer. He ignored their presence and focused solely on hacking into the bank's surveillance system, pulling up each video frame one by one, franticly searching for her.

He desperately needed to know she was okay… that the baby was okay… and that things were going to be okay.

She was still sitting in the corner on the bench, right where she said she was. "Thank God," he mumbled into his hands as he pulled down on his face and sighed greatly.

She was alive.

And the baby was alive.

Both of them were alive.

But when the armed man pointed his gun at a military officer and shot him without hesitation, Walter's breath hitched. _Oh God._ He suddenly felt sick and wanted to smash something. Without speaking, he hurriedly gathered his equipment, grabbed the van keys and raced for the door, but Cabe was quick to step in the way.

Cabe only asked one thing. "Is Paige in trouble?"

Walter inhaled a deep breath of air and flared his nostrils as he combed his fingers through his hair and nodded, unsure what to say.

Cabe immediately snatched the keys from Walter and tossed them to Happy. Getting the message, Happy caught them, picked up her bag and bolted for the back of the garage towards the van as Toby and Sylvester followed quickly behind her. "Tell us on the way?" Walter nodded once, and Cabe patted the genius on the back. "Then let's go and kick someone's ass today."

The two men never ran so fast.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

"I don't give a damn about your stupid protocols!" Walter shouted as he stepped forward and glared at the police officer in front of him, "A member of _my_ team is inside that bank; you are _not_ going to do _anything_ until I have my psychiatrist study the behavior of the perpetrator!"

"That's not going to happen." The officer frowned, not intimidated by Walter's height nor anger. "We've already had a shrink study the man; we've been cleared by my superior to negotiate."

Walter clenched his fists and cocked his head a little as he slowly controlled his breathing. He really wanted to punch the officer in the nose right now. "You do not know the motives of this man. If you attempt to negotiate with him and give him what he wants, he'll have no need for hostages anymore, and he might kill all of them instead of letting them go. You can't negotiate blindly and assume he'll do what you want."

"I don't take orders from you."

"AND I DON'T TAKE THEM FROM YOU!" Walter shouted loudly, causing a bunch of officers to glance at him. He inhaled a deep breath and quietly added, "Officer Long, respectfully, Dr. Tobias Curtis is far smarter than ten of your best shrinks combined; if you want guaranteed success, have him assess the situation before you negotiate with the thief."

"Gee, Walt," Toby grinned, "I'm touched." Happy quickly jabbed Toby in the stomach. "Ow!"

"Not helping," she mumbled through gritted teeth.

Before the officer could deny Walter's request once again, Cabe finished speaking with Deputy Director Cooper on the phone and flashed his badge. "Agent Cabe Gallo of Homeland Security. Let my team do their thing. Trust me, they're good at what they do, and even if you tell them no, it won't stop them – especially when a member of Scorpion is being held hostage as well. If my badge isn't enough, I have permission from the deputy director of Homeland Security to take charge of this situation. Anything and everything the LAPD does must be cleared by me and my team first. So, if we're done arguing like girls, I'd like us to focus on what's most important here – saving the hostages. Are we clear?"

Officer Long grumbled and scratched his ear. "Fine, but I want to be kept apprised of everything your team is doing. Got that?"

Cabe nodded and folded his arms after putting away his badge. "That can be arranged."

"Tell me what you know so far," Toby said, walking up to Officer Long and crossing his arms to make him appear more sophisticated than he probably looks.

"The thief's name is Hamzah Basara. He emigrated from Iraq about ten years ago and became a citizen back in 2008 after completing his degree in engineering. We're still unsure about his motives, but we haven't altogether ruled out terrorism. Though, since he's only holding hostages at a small bank, terrorism isn't likely."

"But like you said," Toby mused, "you haven't ruled it out completely, either."

"No. We haven't."

Walter groaned and rubbed his temples. "We don't have _time_ listening to this man."

"Excuse me, 197," Toby frowned and snapped, "You're the one who wanted me to assess the criminal; in order to do that, I need to know what they already know."

"We can find all of that ourselves, Toby." Walter grumbled and signed. "You continue talking to Officer Long. I'm going to hack into the security feed of the bank and see what I can find myself."

"Walter!" Sylvester suddenly yelled from Scorpion's station behind them, "You need to see this!"

Walter immediately raced over to the human calculator; the others – including Officer Long – weren't far behind. "What is it, Sly?"

"I tried hacking into the surveillance system, but nothing. Either the surveillance system is malfunctioning right now, or the bad man destroyed our eyes into the building." Sylvester, a little depressed, stood up and allowed Walter to take over. The super genius typed some figures into his computer, but he, too, was unsuccessful.

"Dammit!" Walter slammed his fists against the table on either side of his computer, causing everyone to jump. "No eyes. We don't know what's going on in there."

"I could have told you that," Officer Long said, clearing his throat. "Hamzah killed the feed about ten minutes before you arrived, that's when we were given the okay to start negotiating with him. I was just about to make the first call as your team arrived onsite."

"Happy," Walter turned towards the mechanic, "see if you can make out a heat signature reading."

"On it," Happy nodded, racing towards her bag to grab her heat signature camera. She quickly set it up and aimed it towards the lower level of the bank. "Other than two bodies, I'm picking up a heavily concentrated amount of heat in the back left corner of the bank."

"That's the vault room," Officer Lang muttered as he touched his chin. "I used to work security at this bank back in the day."

"Assuming that the hostages are in the vault room," Toby frowned as he glanced at the building, "then where's Hamzah, and why hasn't he taken his money and leave? He could have easily gotten what he wanted if he was able to make a teller open the vault for him so… why _this_ tactic?" Toby's eyes suddenly popped open. "He's not here for money or for anything related to the bank."

"Then why is he here?" Officer Long asked as he scratched his grey mustache and shifted his feet.

"He wants revenge…, but not against anybody amongst the hostages. Otherwise, he would have killed whomever he was after and left before the cops showed up. He needed to go somewhere that would have gotten attention from the media; I don't think, however, he planned for you guys to show up as soon as you did…. Hence hiding the hostages and destroying the camera feed. He doesn't want you to know what he's up to, but he's planning something big, and something tells me, we're in for some deep dodo with this Hamzah guy."

"Not good," Happy grumbled as she stepped away from the heat signature camera. "Walt, you're going to want to take a look at this."

Walter walked over to the camera and looked into it. Two figures were upstairs, and one of the figure's profile looked exactly like Paige's. He would know. He's memorized her inside and out. Hamzah, Walter guessed, suddenly whacked the side of Paige's face with the hilt of his gun.

Walter blanched.

"What is it, kid?" Cabe asked, placing his hand on Walter's shoulder.

Walter suddenly leapt over the caution tape and bolted for the doors of the bank. Happy, Cabe and Officer Long chased after him as he tried to force himself inside. He banged his shoulder against the heavy doors and pounded on the glass desperately before Cabe and Officer Long were able to pull him back from the doors. Walter started putting up a fight, struggling against the two men as they dragged him away.

"Walt!" Happy shouted at him; he suddenly stopped fighting as her powerful voice echoed in his ears. "Get your act together! You can't save her if you act emotionally!"

Walter inhaled a deep breath and shrugged the officers off of him before he angrily kicked a metal chair over. "I have to get in there!"

"No," Happy frowned as she folded her arms and marched up to the super genius. "No you don't. You going in there would give that man exactly what he wants, and he won't have a reason to keep Paige around anymore."

Walter raked his hands through his hair and frustratingly toppled over another metal chair. "You don't get it, Happy! I _need_ to be in there!"

"Walter," Toby ran up to them, "I saw the feed through the camera. You don't think this man is targeting Paige because he's related to the Baghdad incident, do you?"

Walter froze. Could he be? Could this be another case where someone tries to get back at Walter for designing that dreadful software? Walter started for the bank's entrance again, but Cabe blocked his path and grabbed his shoulders. "Walter, you need to calm down. Acting like a madman won't help Paige's cause."

"Let go of me!" Walter shouted as he tried to worm his way around Cabe. "LET GO OF ME!"

Cabe shook Walter violently and yelled, "CALM DOWN, SON!"

Walter continued to fight against Cabe's strength until he just suddenly fell to the grass and slammed his fists into the dirt, releasing a frustrated scream. "I should be in there with her!"

"Son-"

"No! You don't understand!" Walter clamped his head, "I _have_ to be in there with her! I have to be!"

"Paige is a strong woman, Walt." Happy bent down and touched her friend's shoulder. "She'll be able to hold out until we find a way to get that SOB. She's been in worse situations before, O'Brien. Remember?"

Walter violently shook his head and grumbled loudly. "You don't understand! The situation is substantially different!"

"How?!" Happy threw her hands out. "How is this crazy ass situation any different than the other crazy ass situations we get ourselves in?!"

"Because!" Walter snapped, "Paige is pregnant!"

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

Again, I'm sorry for the delay. I'll try to get the next one up ASAP. Probably Sunday or Monday at the earliest. Hope you like it so far! As always, let me know what you think! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**WriterFreak001:**

Once again, sorry for the delay. Work was hectic this week and almost gave me no time to type. However, I have some free time this week. :D I hope you like this one. BY THE WAY, 2x05 was AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL! :D

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Three**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

"Pregnant?!" Cabe, Toby, Sylvester and Happy exclaimed in unison.

Cabe blinked. "Paige is pregnant?"

Happy, who was probably the most surprised, voiced everyone's silent thoughts. "With your kid?"

"Yes," Walter nodded quickly as he ran his hands through his hair.

"I d-didn't even know you and Paige were dating." Sylvester, ever so obvious, stammered, as he and the other members of Scorpion tried wrapping their minds around Walter's sudden news.

"No one did apparently," Toby frowned, disappointed at himself for not seeing the signs. He should have picked up on Walter's and Paige's strange vibes, but… he didn't…. How did he miss this?! How did _anybody_ miss this?!

"Paige and I've been seeing each other for almost a year." Walter said swiftly and paused as four pairs of eyes shot wide open. "Look, I know you all are surprised and probably angry we didn't say anything about us, but… now really isn't the time. Paige needs our help. Everyone, glad that Walter seemed more like his stoic self, circled around the genius as the man rose to his feet and waited for his instructions. Walter turned towards Officer Long. "Have one of your men escort two members of my team, Happy and Toby, to Hamzah Basara's residence; I'd like to see if my team can find anything relevant to Hamzah's plans."

"We've already had a forensics team over at Hamzah's place; they couldn't find anything." Officer Long shifted his feet. Walter was about to say something, but the officer added, "But, I guess one more browse won't hurt." Officer Long turned around and called out for Detectives Hines and Davenport to report to him; a tall and lanky man and a curvy brunette woman approached him. He gave them some orders, and they gestured for Happy and Toby to follow them.

The mechanic and the shrink never jogged so fast.

Before Walter could make another order, his cellphone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket but didn't recognize the number. Hoping it was Paige who was calling him, he didn't hesitate to answer. "Who is this?"

Nothing.

"Hello?"

" _Walter…."_

 **~ SCORPION ~**

 _ **Earlier…**_

Paige instinctively held her breath as the armed man forced her upstairs with the muzzle of his gun jabbing into the middle of her back. She refused to say anything about being pregnant, and despite her maternal instinct to protect her baby, she didn't want the man behind her to find out she was with child; otherwise, he might use it that knowledge against her.

"W-Why are you d-doing this?" Paige stammered as he grabbed her arm and dragged her towards a chair. "W-Why me?"

"You'll find out soon enough," he said as he pushed her into the chair. He placed his gun down on the floor for a moment and bounded her ankles to the legs of the chair before zip-tying her wrists together. "Now," he had his gun in his hand again and centered himself in front of her. "You're going to make a call."

"I… I left my cellphone at home."

"Liar!" he struck her with the hilt of his gun, causing Paige to coddle her face and cry in pain. He grabbed her purse and dumped everything out of it. He searched frantically for her phone but couldn't find it. "Where's your damn phone?!"

"I d-don't have it!"

"TELL ME WHERE IT IS!" he struck the other side of her face before grabbing a handful of her hair and yanking her upward. "I saw you on your phone earlier. Now, where is it?!"

"I don't know! I l-lost it!" she screeched as she struggled to free herself. He threw her back down and grabbed the back of her chair before dragging her towards the teller counter. He picked up the phone and dropped it into Paige's hands. "Call him."

She didn't move.

"CALL HIM, DAMMIT!" He hollered as he jabbed the muzzle of his gun into her lower belly. "CALL HIM!"

Paige jumped out of fear and immediately dialed Walter's cellphone number before placing the phone to her ear. It didn't even ring twice before she heard his voice. _"Who is this?"_ She closed her eyes as her lips trembled from hearing his quick and overly-frantic voice. _"Hello?"_

"Walter…," Paige forced herself to speak, knowing that if she didn't, the armed man wouldn't think twice about shooting her unborn baby.

" _Paige?"_

She inhaled slowly and fought the urge to cry. She opened her mouth to speak again, but her captor grabbed the phone from her and started talking. "If you want your pregnant girlfriend to live, you're going to do exactly as I say."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Walter stiffened when another voice other than Paige's filled his ears; he wanted to throw something again. Walter ignored Cabe's and Sylvester's looks as he stepped away from them. "Why are you doing this?"

Hamzah was silent for a moment. _"Because you took everything from me."_

Walter closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. So he _was_ affected from the Baghdad incident. "If I do what you say, will you release Paige? Will you release the other hostages, too?"

" _Yes."_ Hamzah's voice was quiet, and Walter wished he had Toby around to hear the man's voice and determine if he was lying or not.

Walter was now hundreds of feet from the first responders and said, "Let me talk to her first. I need… I need to talk to her."

There was a long pause _. "Fine. You have one minute."_

Another silence filled Walter's ears until he heard Paige weakly whimper his name. He immediately stopped walking and pressed the phone harder to his ear.

" _Walter..."_

"Everything's going to be all right, Paige." Walter whispered closely to the phone. "I promise. I will fix this, okay? I _will_ fix this."

There was a small silence. _"I love you so m—"_

" _Time's up,"_ Hamzah spat.

"I had 23.7 seconds left," Walter frowned as he clenched his fists and kicked a rock.

" _I was bored,"_ Hamzah deadpanned. _"Now, as soon as I hang up, you will have thirty minutes to release Kayra Nazari from Harrison Prison, free of all charges. And, after you've cleared her rap sheet and have proof of her release, you are going to hack into this bank's funds and transfer all of its assets to a temporary account, and once all of that's done, you're going to let me kill you in front of everybody. And then Kayria and I will walk away as if none of this happened."_ There was a sinister chuckle in his voice. _Easy peasy."_

"And if I'm not successful?" Walter swallowed the lump in his throat, unsure if he could _legally_ follow through Hamzah's requests.

" _You're smart enough to know what's at stake here."_ Hamzah said quietly and quickly. _"Don't disappoint me, Walter O'Brien."_

And then the phone clicked.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

I know this was a shorter chapter, but I felt like this was a good place to stop. YOU ARE IN FOR A WILD RIDE! I JUST CAME UP WITH HOW THE REST OF THIS STORY IS GOING TO GO AND OH MY GOSH IT IS GOING TO BE INTENSE!

Let me know what you think! :)

I'm not so sure about this chapter, though. It was hard to write.


	4. Chapter 4

**WriterFreak001:**

Hope you enjoy this one. :D

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Four**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

Walter closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath before jogging back to everybody. Without a word, he sat down in front of his computer and started hacking into Harrison's prison files. He pulled up the roster and cursed under his breath. There were hundreds, probably three hundred names at least, he would have to sort through, and they weren't in alphabetical order like he originally expected. "Sylvester," Walter, without looking away from his screen, motioned for the human calculator to approach him.

"Yes?"

"I need you to go through this list and find the name: Kayra Nazari. No questions asked."

"O-okay." Sylvester, a little nervous, nodded and took the seat as soon as Walter rose to his feet.

"Hey," Cabe pulled Walter away from Sylvester and folded his arms, "Mind telling me what's going on?"

"Hamzah – he's making demands." Walter closed his eyes and pulled down at his face. "He had Paige call me…, and he wants somebody named Kayra Nazari released from Harrison with a clean rap sheet. He'll only back off from harming anybody if I do what he asks." He decided not to tell Cabe the last part of Hamzah's wishes; it wasn't important.

"So he's taking hostages because he wants someone released?" Cabe cocked an eyebrow and frowned. "Then why Paige? Why did he single her out when he could have taken anybody?"

"Because," Walter raked his hand through his hair, "he lost friends and family in Baghdad…, and when Merrick released all information relating to the Baghdad incident, he knew I was the one who designed the program. He's targeting Paige because of me." Walter inhaled a deep breath of air and clenched his hair. "I don't know what I'd do if…"

"Hey," Cabe patted Walter's shoulder, "That's not going to happen. I won't let it."

Walter glanced at Cabe with desperate, watery eyes. "She only has thirty minutes, Cabe."

"Then will get that SOB in twenty-five." Cabe smirked and patted Walter's shoulder again. "Tonight, Paige will be home and safe in your arms. I can promise you that much."

Walter let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and nodded. "Okay."

"Uh Walter?!" Sylvester called out to the genius and gestured for him to view the screen. Both Walter and Cabe hustled over to Sylvester in seconds.

"Did you find the name?"

Sylvester shook his head. "No. There's no Kayra Nazari in Harrison's records. Perhaps the person goes by a different name now?"

"No," Walter shook his head abruptly. "He wouldn't give me a name that wouldn't work. That doesn't make sense."

"I'm telling you, Walter," Sylvester frowned and backed away from the screen, "There's no Kayra Nazari. Perhaps he was misinformed."

"Doubt it," Cabe frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Why go through all this trouble if he was only going to get his information wrong? _That_ doesn't make sense."

"Keep searching," Walter ordered Sylvester. "We only have twenty-eight minutes to find her name, clear her rap sheet and free her from prison."

"E-Excuse me," Sylvester stammered, "F-Free her? As in… free her?"

"That's what Hamzah wants, and if Paige is going to survive all of this, we need to give into his demands." Walter said, still not telling them Hamzah's endgame.

"I'll keep looking," Sylvester nodded and returned to the computer as Walter pulled Cabe aside and quietly said, "Don't tell Officer Long about this…. The fewer people who know about this, the better."

"Roger that," Cabe agreed and sighed. "Now all we need to do is figure out his endgame."

"Yeah…."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

"Find anything, Doc?" Happy asked as she sorted through Hamzah's trashcan. "So far, nothing out of the normal."

"Well," Toby hummed to himself as he scratched his chin, "Hamzah strikes me as somebody who's been planning this hostage crisis for months. He hasn't taken any money so I don't think it was spontaneous; otherwise, he would have stolen whatever money he could have gotten hold of and have fled before the police arrived. Him isolating Paige from the other hostages wasn't random, either. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Hamzah lost friends and family in Baghdad when Walt's system released those bombs. Information regarding Walter's involvement was released almost two years ago – plenty of time for a guy to plot the perfect revenge."

"So… what're you thinking?" Happy folded her hands and leaned against the wall.

"If I had my heart set on revenge and needed time to plan it and possibly gather materials, I wouldn't want my schemes to be out in the open. I'd have them hidden somewhere. Somewhere no one would think to look." Toby glanced about Hamzah's bedroom for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. "He'd want in in his private quarters; somewhere close in case he needed to pull it out and make changes." He looked under the bed, but nothing. He scanned the entire room, and his eyes popped open when he spotted a large prayer mat hanging on the wall. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Happy nodded. "The drywall around the nails that are holding up that prayer mat is cracking – preferably from someone continuously taking the mat down and pinning it back up."

"That's totally not what I'm seeing, but that's a good observation too. I'm just wondering why that prayer mat is the only wall decoration Hamzah has in his bedroom. Notice how plain his digs are? In fact, his apartment is too simple – way too simple for a man who's been living here for well over three years." Toby pursed his lips and took off his hat as he examined the room. "I don't like it."

"Let's just see what's on the back of this thing," Happy said as she started reaching for the top of the mat. Toby helped her lift it off of the wall and place it down on the ground. "Bingo. A 64 GB thumb drive."

"And a storage locker key," Toby pointed to the small bag stapled to the corner. "Why would he hide a storage locker key?"

"I don't know," Happy shrugged as pushed herself to her feet, "but let's take the drive back to Walter for analysis; then, you and I can pay his storage locker a visit."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Paige had to stay strong. For the sake of her baby, she had to cast her fears away and focus on Scorpion's success. Scorpion _will_ be successful. Walter _will_ figure out a way around her captor's ploy; he had to. He just had to.

The man was seated in an armchair in front of her with his gun pointed at her chest. He was incessantly tapping his fingers and checking the time; she needed to distract him. "If you wanted to kill Walter so badly," Paige suddenly caught his attention, "why not kill him quietly? Why go through all of this for the death of one man? Your rage towards Walter is personal... So why take me hostage? Why take the other people of this bank, hostage?"

He furrowed his eyebrows and frowned, "You talk too much."

Paige gulped. "S-Surely you have your reasons."

"I do," he shifted in his seat but kept his gun trained on her. "And you'll find out soon enough."

"A-At least let the other hostages go…. They have n-nothing to do with your plans. You h-have me as leverage…, and there's nothing Walter _won't_ do to save me. Th-Those other people are liabilities; they don't need to be here. You can let them leave and let them go home. All you need here is me…."

He looked at her and the way his lips twisted to a smirk made her skin crawl. "I think you and I actually agree on something." He rose to his feet and tightened his grip on his gun. "They _are_ liabilities."

The color drained from her face as he walked past her. "W-What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to," he chuckled, "let them go."

"You are?" Paige was ever so hopeful.

"Yes." He mused as he sidestepped towards the stairs. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

Paige's heart pounded as she waited for a flock of rushing people make their way to the doors, but it never happened.

The only sounds echoing throughout the bank were eighteen gunshots, loud screams and the shattering of her soul.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

And the suspense continues! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**WriterFreak001:**

Hope you enjoy this one. :D

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Five**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

Walter cursed loudly, causing Cabe and Sylvester to stare at him. He kicked another chair over and groaned as he slammed his fists against the table. "How hard is it to find a damn name?!"

"Walter," Cabe marched up to the genius and bravely touched the man's shoulder, "I just got off the phone with Deputy Director Katherine Cooper; I had to let her in on Hamzah's demands. She called the ward of Harrison, and he did not recall ever seeing a Kayra Nazari in any of the files. To be safe, he ran a search through the digital files in the database, and nothing. I'm beginning to think you've been played."

"Why?!" Walter slammed his fist against the table again. "Why would he ask me to do something for him if it wasn't going to work?" His eyes popped open. "Unless…. Unless he wanted me to fail all along. The reason we can't find a Kayra Nazari is because there _isn't_ a Kayra Nazari. He fabricated demands in order to stall time… but why?"

"To kill Paige?" the words were out of Sylvester's mouth before he could stop himself from speaking. "Sorry, that was inappropriate."

"I don't think so," Walter shook his head and stared at his computer. "If he only wanted to kill Paige, he would have done so already. He wouldn't have needed to fabricate anything." Walter inhaled a deep breath and swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked at Cabe and Sylvester gravely. "Something bigger is happening. Something _much_ bigger."

Before anybody could say anything, eighteen loud bangs sounded from the bank, causing everybody to go on full alert.

"What the hell was that?!" Officer Long shouted to no one in particular. "I want to know what the hell is happening! I need visual! NOW!"

Walter, Cabe and Sylvester ran up to the police's surveillance van as Officer Long hovered over his subordinates. A young officer pulled off his headset and turned towards Officer Long. "I picked up some chatter minutes before the loud bangs; it isn't strong, and it doesn't pick up everything, but you're going to want to hear it, boss."

"Play it," Officer Long instructed quickly. The officer unplugged his headset from its port and played the feed. Walter mindlessly held his breath when he heard Paige's shaky voice among the noise through the speaker.

" _Those people are liabilities; they don't need to be here._ "

There was a long pause, and then, eighteen muffled shots mixed with screaming people filled the van, and everyone, for several seconds, were silent.

Cabe was the first to speak. "I'm calling in reinforcements. This just became a terrorist crisis; Homeland's taking over from here on out."

As Cabe stepped out of the vehicle to call the deputy director, Officer Long turned to one of his detectives. "Conduct a full search on the hostage, Paige Dineen; if she's part of this somehow, I want to know about it."

Walter suddenly stepped forward. "Paige is innocent; there's no need to perform a background search."

"You're only saying that because she's your girlfriend; based on what I heard, she just encouraged Hamzah to eliminate the other hostages. In my eyes, she's an accomplice." Officer Long frowned as he folded his arms and squared his shoulders.

"No," Walter shook his head violently, "Paige wouldn't do that; you're taking what she said out of context. She would never want to harm life. Never." Walter inhaled a deep breath and clenched his fists. "Paige is a good person. She's the best of all of us."

"Walter is right," Sylvester bravely chimed in. "The likelihood of Paige ordering that bad, bad man to kill the hostages is… well, it's nonexistent." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and added, "Paige couldn't hurt a fly."

"I'm following the evidence," Officer Long gave Walter and Sylvester a forward look. "I don't care if she's part of your geek squad; I'm following protocol."

"No, you're not!" Walter really wanted to slug the man but knew there were more pressing matters at hand. "I can vouch for Paige and so can Homeland. Paige is innocent."

Officer Long turned towards his detective. "Go. Now."

Walter blocked the detective's path.

"Walter," Sylvester piped up, "Perhaps you should just let them do what they have to do. They'll see for themselves that Paige is innocent."

"No," Walter frowned, "No. I'm not going to let them defame Paige's name based on a small portion of a conversation they heard over chatter!" He folded his arms to prevent him from punching anyone in specific and growled, "Paige is in there," he pointed towards the bank, "with a crazy man who just shot and probably killed eighteen people. You're focusing your time and energy on the wrong person!"

"Back. Off." Officer Long stepped in front of his detective and towered over Walter. "Or I'll have you removed from the perimeter."

Walter stood there for a few seconds but didn't waver. He was about to say something he knew he wouldn't regret when Cabe walked back inside and said, "I step out for two minutes, and World War III is happening in here. What the hell is going on now?"

Sylvester, surprisingly, was the first one to speak. "Officer Long wants one of his detectives to run a background check on Paige based on a ludicrous belief that she's involved somehow, and Walter refuses to let said detective leave in order to do it."

Cabe nodded and stepped forward. "There will be no background check performed on Paige. She's not involved. Not in the way you think, at least."

"What's that supposed to mean," Officer Long threw his hands up as his detective sat back down.

"She was an intended target," Cabe explained as he eyed Walter who finally stepped away from the officer. Walter silently gave Cabe the okay to continue. "Hamzah is from Baghdad."

"Yes, we know."

"Back in 2000, Homeland had commissioned the military to drop bombs on Baghdad, killing 2,000 civilians. It's not our proudest moment, believe me." Cabe glanced at Walter with an apologetic look before continuing. "Walter," Cabe placed his hand on the genius's shoulder, "was the one commissioned to design the software for the bombs, unknowingly, of course. Again," he shared a look of sympathy with Walter, "not one of our finest decisions. Many months ago, all intel regarding the bombings was released – including the information regarding Walter being the software designer. Because something important was taken from Hamzah, we believe he's planning to avenge his friends and family, and taking Paige hostage is just the tip of the iceberg. Something is brewing, and that's why Homeland is taking over the case entirely. Deputy Director Cooper and a team of specialists are on their way as we speak."

Without saying anything, Walter walked out of the surveillance van and hovered over his laptop. Nothing made sense. Walter was supposed to find this Kayra Nazari, and Paige would be free. It should have been that simple. Why wasn't it that simple?!

"What's on your mind, Walter?" Cabe said from behind him but kept his distance.

Walter opted not to answer the agent but he just… he needed to talk. "Paige…. She's…. There's no way she could have encouraged Hamzah to kill all of those people. There's just absolutely no way."

"I know, and I believe you." Cabe shoved his hands into his pockets and studied the genius quietly before saying, "Something else is on your mind."

The genius nodded and heaved a loud sigh. "I know Paige. I know she wouldn't want Hamzah to kill those innocent people. I know she was just trying to convince Hamzah to let them go – she was always selfless like that." He paused and stared towards the second level of the bank before turning to Cabe. "I'm worried."

"I know."

"No," he shook his head and quietly added, "that's not what I mean."

"Then what _do_ you mean, kid?"

He was silent for a few minutes, but he eventually said as he stared at the ground uncomfortably, "I know what it's like to have innocent lives weighing on your conscience; you blame yourself constantly, and you occasionally have nightmares from it. I was mostly able to handle the fallout because of who I am, but Paige? She's not designed to handle such an emotional overload – I worry how it might affect her. That… that feeling of guilt… well," he paused and looked towards the sky, "it never really goes away."

"I don't have all of the answers for you, Walter, but I do know that she has you…, Ralph and the rest of the team to help her through it. You'll be the shoulder she cries on tonight because we _will_ save her." Cabe patted Walter's shoulder and was about to say something when Sylvester called out to them.

"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed proudly. "I have visual!"

Walter, Cabe and Officer Long raced to Sylvester's computer as the young genius turned to Walter and said, "One of the computers inside the second level of the bank was left on – probably by an employee before the hostage crisis. I managed to hack into the webcam, and now we have a clear image of what's going on in there. Looks like Paige is alone right now."

"Brilliant!" Walter exclaimed as Cabe proudly patted Sly's shoulder. "Good work, Sly!"

"Walt!" Toby called out as he and Happy raced towards them from the detective's SUV.

"Did you find something?!" Walter spun around, hoping his friends didn't return emptyhanded.

"A few things, actually," Happy replied as Toby presented Walter with the flash drive. "We found this hidden inside his bedroom. We think it might contain his plans. Also, on our way out, Toby noticed Hamzah's medicine cabinet. He's on a lot of medication."

"Meaning?" Cabe folded his arms as he joined the group.

"He's sick," Toby replied as he ran his hands through his hair. "All of his medications are ones used to treat Dissociative Identity Disorder. He hasn't been taking his meds in weeks… maybe months… which could be very, very bad for us. I think the bombings in Baghdad had an adverse effect on him. He couldn't deal with the trauma so his brain created an identity that could – hence the crazy ass stuff he's been doing. The man you're talking to might not be Hamzah at all, but another identity. Anybody who contacts him has to be careful with him; one wrong statement could send him over the edge, and who knows how many identities he has up his sleeve."

"That would make sense, then," Cabe said quietly.

"Hm?" Walter turned to face Cabe, dreading what the agent might say.

"Well, perhaps the reason we can't find a Kayra Nazari is because one of his identities created her." Cabe rubbed his chin and looked at the group. "Many years ago, when I was serving the military, I dealt with a DID patient – had to take him down because one of his alters was going crazy, shooting innocent people. He kept calling out a name, but we had no idea who he was talking about. Turns out the person he was wanting to talk to didn't exist – just someone he hallucinated from time to time because he was sick. I wonder if Hamzah's alters did something similarly and created Kayra Nazari – maybe, in his mind, she's real and when he started taking meds – probably not of his free will – he fabricated this story that she was arrested and sent to prison because he couldn't deal with the possibility that she wasn't real."

Toby blinked. "I am impressed, Cabe."

"Just because I'm not a genius, it doesn't mean I'm stupid," Cabe frowned at the shrink. "Anyway, if that's true, then we really need to play things carefully."

"Toby," Walter rubbed his forehead as this new information sank in, "I want you and Sly to analyze the thumb drive. Perhaps it'll give us some idea as to what Hamzah – or whomever we're dealing with – is planning. I have a feeling we're not just dealing with crazy terrorist anymore."

"Terrorist?" Toby and Happy lifted their eyebrows. "What did we miss?"

"A lot," Cabe gave them a look of sympathy as he pulled them aside to inform them of the killings.

Walter returned his eyes to the screen and saw Paige talking…, yelling, actually. If only he could hear her. If only he could find a way in and save her. If only – he froze when he saw Hamzah free Paige's constraints and force her to the counter with his gun at her back. He was yelling something at her as he brought her to the phone, but she wasn't heeding his orders. He struck her hard with the back of his hand as he jabbed his gun into her temple. Walter froze, tempted to race back towards the doors. Paige now had the phone in her hands, frantically punching numbers.

And then, Walter's phone buzzed.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

 _ **Earlier….**_

"Why?!" Paige screamed as Hamzah ascended the stairs, "Why did you do that?! Why did you kill them?! Why?!"

"Like you said," he gave her a cold, bone-chilling stare. "They were liabilities."

"B-but you killed them! YOU KILLED THEM!"

"Shut up!" Hamzah shouted and smacked her face with the back of his hand. Twice. "JUST SHUT UP!"

Paige slowly opened her eyes and stared at the wall in front of her, mumbling, "You didn't have to kill them" over and over and over again. "You didn't have to kill them."

Hamzah looked at the time and grinned. "Let's see if your boyfriend will deliver." He forced Paige on her feet and guided her towards the phone with the gun pointed at her back. And when he ordered her to call Walter, she didn't move. He jabbed the muzzle of the gun against her temple and smacked her as hard as he could with the back of his hand. "CALL HIM!"

Paige, with shaky hands, picked up the phone and trembled as she dialed her boyfriend's cellphone number. Hamzah grabbed the phone from her and placed it to his ear as it rang.

" _Hello?_ "

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Walter had his eyes peeled on Sylvester's computer screen as he waited for Hamzah's response. He knew he couldn't tell Hamzah that he knew of the man's condition, but he also knew he had to tell him _something_ – especially if he was truly dealing with a DID patient. He had to play Hamzah's game. He had no choice.

" _Step away from everybody if you don't want me to put a bullet into your girlfriend's womb."_

Walter, without hesitation, did as he was instructed and walked away from everyone, ignoring all of the stares he was getting – especially the one from Toby. "I'm out of earshot. Why are you calling?"

" _Did you do what I've asked?"_

"Not entirely," Walter lied, knowing he needed to pretend Hamzah wasn't sick. "Kayra will be released by noon; that was the best I could do." Walter paused, waited for Hamza's response but when he didn't hear anything, he continued. "For the other part of your request," Walter pursed his lips, "I can't do everything I need to do from out here. I'm not able to hack into the internal server of the bank from the outside. I'll need to be inside the building in order to transfer the money."

" _Not going to happen_." Hamzah said slowly. _"I've done my homework; you're just trying to find a way inside to save your girlfriend. You can hack into virtually anything."_

"Fine," Walter sighed and rubbed his temple. "You're right. I can; however," he lowered his voice to make sure no one was listening even though he was pretty sure he was far enough away for anybody to hear him, "you don't want to attract attention. If I hack into the bank out here, someone will surely notice. If I hack into the bank under your watch, you can be sure I get the job done, and the money could be in your account by the time Kayra is released. Then, you'd be able to kill me like you wanted."

There was a long silence before he heard Paige scream, _"Don't do it, Walter! Don't do it!"_

" _SHUT UP!"_

There was a loud smacking noise that made Walter want to thrust his fists into his phone and strangle Hamzah on the other side. He had to hold his breath to keep himself from losing his mind.

" _Fine. I'll let you in, but you have to come in unarmed and undetected."_

"How? There are people everywhere."

" _Figure something out."_

And then the line went dead.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

Wow! Intense stuff here! Anyway, I don't know when I'll be able to update next; I work pretty much every day next week so… yeah.

By the way, as a reminder, I am not a doctor; my only knowledge of DID is what I read on the internet (preferably WebMD). If it's totally wrong, feel free to let me know via private message. Otherwise, just suspend your disbelief! :) Also, please let me know if something didn't make sense because I sort of wrote this chapter out of order because new ideas would find their way to me.

Let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

**WriterFreak001:**

Sorry for the delay; work has kinda gotten crazy, and as the holiday season approach, I'll be one busy, busy young woman. Anyway, here's chapter 6! :)

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Six**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

He knew he couldn't pull up any schematics without his friends noticing so Walter stayed where he was and didn't return to his computer. He couldn't risk looking up blueprints of the building without raising a red flag. If he wanted to get inside that building, he was going to have to wing it every step of the way. He scanned the bank and noted there weren't any hidden ways to enter the building. He then scanned the store next to the bank; it wasn't interiorly connected so he couldn't break a wall in order to sneak inside the bank, but perhaps, he could use the row of buildings to his advantage somehow.

When he scanned the flat rooftops of the row of buildings, he suddenly had an unpleasant idea forming inside his head, and he didn't like it one bit.

He glanced towards his team and knew he couldn't just leave them in the dark so he visibly implanted an ear comm into his ear as they watched him suspiciously. As if they could read his mind, all of them inserted the comms into their ears, too. The team knew he had something brewing inside that 197 IQ mind of his, but they weren't prepared for him suddenly sprinting away from the site and racing towards a store three buildings from the bank. Cabe yelled his name and instructed Happy and Toby to follow, but he heard Happy, over the comm, defending him, telling Cabe that Walter _must_ have a plan and that they should wait to see it through.

Cabe, from the anger in his voice, wasn't too happy with the idea, but he went with it anyway.

Walter was grateful, if anything, no one decided to follow him, and he was especially grateful towards Happy for having his back back there. Once this was all over, he was going to buy her a new workbench to use at her disposal.

As he entered the store, he frantically searched for stairs. He needed to get to the roof as soon as possible. The instant he found them, he scrambled up the steps and opened every damned door until he found the staircase leading to the roof. Without wasting any time, he ascended the stairs and forced the roof's door open. He slowly walked towards the ledge and gulped. "Oh boy… that's… that's a long way down."

He then mentally calculated the distance between the building underneath him and the building in front of him and let out a breath of air. In order to successfully make the jump, he had to gain just enough momentum to create the projectile needed to land safely. He didn't like this plan at all. Based on his mass and his agility, he had a 69% chance of success. Though the odds were completely in his favor, there was still a possibility of failure, and failure was _not_ an option.

He started backing up towards the opposite side of the building.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Cabe shouted from below, his voice piercing Walter's eardrum, causing him to stumble a little bit.

"I don't like the looks of this, Walter!" Toby hollered, forcing the genius to take his earpiece out.

"You're insane!" Happy yelled at the top of her lungs. "You can't make those jumps!"

"Happy's right, Walter!" Sylvester chimed in with hands gripping his head, "Even if you make the first one, you'll fatigue and lose momentum for the second! Don't even _ask_ me to tell you the odds of success! They're terrible, Walter. TERRIBLE!"

"I have to do this!" Walter hollered towards his team as he stared at the row of buildings in front of him. "I have to save her!"

"We get that, Walt!" Toby funneled his lips with his hands and added, "But you don't have to die trying to do it, either!"

"If I don't do something, he's going to kill them! This is _my_ fault, and I _need_ to fix this!" Walter wouldn't hear anything else they had to say. He clamped his fingers over his comm and held it tightly as his heels touched the edge of the building. He inhaled a deep breath and dropped down to a launching stance; without releasing the air inside of him, he took off towards the building, sprinting at full speed, and unintentionally let out a Tarzan-like wail as he hurtled over the alleyway between the two buildings. The tops of his feet hit the ledge of the building he was jumping towards and sent him flying forward; he faceplanted into the concrete.

"Are you alive?!" Toby shouted from below, and Walter shook off his dizziness before placing his comm back into his ear.

"All good." He rose to his feet and backed up towards the edge of the building before bolting for the next one and the next one. Much to everyone's doubts, he was surprisingly successful (even more so to himself) and only managed to endure a few scrapes and bruises in the process.

He ran to the roof's main entrance and jiggled on the handle in the off chance it was open, but it didn't budge. "Dammit!" He could try kicking it open, but if the officers from below heard him, they would send an army inside the bank, and Walter couldn't afford that luxury. He then walked towards the back end of the building and surveyed the windows below him. None of them were open (why wasn't he surprised?), and he was about to move onto the next side of the building when he noticed one window – beneath the window right below him – wasn't completely closed. _That_ was his only way in.

Just when he thought he was done with crazy ideas for the day, he inwardly groaned as he turned around and dropped to his knees before placing his entire weight on his hands as he slowly dangled his feet below him. "Okaaay," he mumbled as his toes touched the ledge of the window. With his hands gripping the bricked ledge, he tried lowering one foot toward the window he needed access to. "No. Nope. Nope." Walter immediately retracted his foot and inhaled a deep breath of air. As much as he loved the action, he really, _really_ hated the extra dicey stunts he sometimes had to pull – and this, _this_ , was quickly making its way to the top of that list.

Walter then noticed a steel hook bolted into the brick just to the right of his right hand and quickly formulated a plan, and just all other ones today, he absolutely hated this one. Walter slowly dropped one hand down to his belt and carefully unbuckled it before hooking the latch to the hook. He then pulled on it to test its durability. With one hand still on the belt, Walter brought his other hand to his belt and inhaled another deep breath as he placed all his weight on his belt and dangled along the side of the building. For his sake, he hoped the hook was strong enough to handle his weight for a few more minutes.

Cautiously, Walter climbed down on his belt as though it was a gym class rope and when his knees were leveled with the breached window, Walter swung his foot over to the top latch and forced it down. He then, one hand at a time, gripped the windowsill of the window above him and clumsily slid inside the window, knocking a few items down along the way. Reluctantly, he closed the window to prevent cops from finding the building's single point of failure and bolted for the stairs, hoping Hamzah was patient enough to wait for him.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

"Mind telling me how the hell Walter was able to jump all of those buildings without breaking his neck or getting himself killed?" Cabe, with arms crossed, eyed the behaviorist, demanding for answers.

"I would like to know that as well," Sylvester rose his hand. "It's hard for me to say this, but… he… he wasn't supposed to make that last jump. By then, he surely should have failed… but he didn't, as we all know."

Toby hummed for a minute as he touched his chin. "Seems like we forgot to factor in the most important ingredient to Walter's success."

Sylvester and Happy blinked, but Cabe seemed to understand right away.

"That makes sense, then." Cabe nodded as he pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose.

"What makes sense?" Happy rose an eyebrow.

"Love does crazy ass things," Toby shrugged as he looked towards the rooftop of the bank. "The only reason Walter was successful was due to his strong love for Paige and his child. That love fueled him in ways that typically defy science, and that's why Walter 'I'm in love with Paige Dineen' O'Brien was able to make those jumps."

"Let's just hope his love for Paige keeps him alive," Cabe mumbled. He turned to Sylvester who was on Walter's computer again. "Find anything on that flash drive yet, Sly?"

"I'm still decrypting it; it's going to take a few more minutes." Sylvester frowned sympathetically. "I'm sorry I'm not as great of a hacker as Walter; if he was the one hacking into it, he'd surely be done by now."

"You're doing fine, Sly. Keep up the good work," Cabe smiled softly as he patted the human calculator's shoulders.

Suddenly, a row of SUVs pulled up to the parking lot. "That would be Deputy Director Cooper," Cabe muttered to the group. "I'll get them up to speed."

As Cabe left the group, Toby couldn't help himself. "There's something off about Hamzas's intentions…."

"Other than the fact he has DID?" Happy, who was sitting on the corner of the table, raised an eyebrow and curled a strand of her hair behind her ear. "What could be more off than that?"

"Well, we know Hamzah's aware of Walter's involvement in the Baghdad incident. We also know he targeted Paige specifically; however, he must have been following Walter and Paige for at least a day – Paige didn't decide going to the bank until this morning, if I'm correct. That being said, he had to have been keeping an eye on them somehow. And if that's the case, then he knows about the baby, and nothing would be more blissful to him then taking away everything from Walter – exact justice, you know?" Toby pulled down at his face and groaned. "I just wish I could figure out why something doesn't settle well in my stomach."

"Wait," Happy suddenly blanched, "You said _everything_."

"Yes." Toby nodded. "I did say that."

"Crap!" Happy exclaimed and ran to Cabe without warning. Toby automatically followed, but Sylvester stayed behind and worked on the decryption. "Cabe!"

"What is it, Happy?"

"You need to send agents to Ralph's school right now; if Toby's right about his analysis, and Hamzah wants to take everything away from Walter, then Ralph's in danger too." Happy inhaled a deep breath and continued. "It all makes sense. How he knew where Paige would be; why he killed those eighteen hostages; why he lured Walter into the bank. It all makes sense!"

"What makes sense?!" Toby and Cabe exclaimed together.

She paused. "Look, it doesn't matter! You need to get some agents to Ralph as soon as possible!"

"Guys!" Sylvester gestured for everyone to huddle around the computer, "we have _much_ bigger problems."

"Oh God." Cabe blanched.

Toby threw his hands out in frustration as Happy inhaled a deep breath and muttered, "Definitely. Not. Good."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

And just what do you think they uncovered?

Heehee…. It's a biggie.

Let me know what you think! :)


	7. Chapter 7

**WriterFreak001:**

Here's the next installment! :) Be sure to check out my newest one-shot, "A Loving Family." :D

Also, please note that I have no experience in engineering nor in psychology, but I do whatever research I can and try to come up with plausible plot lines. I have no idea if the tech mentioned in this chapter would actually exist so… if they don't, feel free to stretch your imagination a little, lol.

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Seven**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Walter, after sliding through the window to sneak inside the bank, removed his comm from his ear to avoid further distractions as he bolted for the emergency stairs. He scrambled down two flights and almost lost his footing as he neared the second floor, but as soon as he recovered, he threw open the door and sprinted down a hallway, stopping suddenly when he locked eyes with Paige. _His_ Paige. His exceptionally beautiful and incredibly brave Paige. The fearful look in her teary, red eyes pained him, and he wanted so desperately to run up to her and kiss her and tell her everything was going to be all right, but he had to play his cards meticulously. He had to play Hamzah's game, and if he hinted any trace of betrayal, Hamzah would surely kill Paige.

That was a premise Walter wasn't willing to risk.

"I'm here," Walter spoke with a touch of anger and desperation as he slowly walked into the room, finding Hamzah standing by the counter next to the phone with a gun trained on Paige. "Free Paige and let her leave. I'm the one you want."

Hamzah glanced at Walter perceptibly as he abruptly pushed himself away from the counter and briskly walked towards Paige, cocking his gun. Walter immediately blocked his path and held up his hands in defense. "Hey! Hey!" Walter backed up so he was directly in front of his girlfriend, refusing to give Hamzah any chance to harm her. "I said _free_ her and _let her leave_. If you kill her…, all bets are off."

Hamzah was quiet for a moment, and Walter hoped he had actually gotten _something_ through that man's deranged skull, but the moment Hamzah's eyes flashed open, Walter felt unnerved. Something was different. Off. There was much more anger and much more hatred seething behind Hamzah's glare. "I don't think I've made myself clear," Hamzah's voice was disturbingly deeper, and his accent shifted from Arabic to New York. Though impressive, Walter was really, _really_ nervous about whatever the man was planning. He suddenly and swiftly unbuttoned his shirt and revealed a bomb. Paige instinctively covered her mouth with her tied hands, and Walter inhaled a deep breath. He knew the man was sick and crazy, but this was downright lunacy! Hamzah revealed a trigger, and before Walter could react, he pushed down on the tiny red button. Paige blanched, and Walter froze. "You have five minutes to make the transfer. I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if you fail."

Walter let out the breath he'd been holding and, with his hands still splayed out in front of him, he carefully stepped around Hamzah and dragged his feet towards the counter. Luckily, one computer was still on; he wouldn't have to use the one Sylvester's laptop was connected to. He had a plan, and though it was possibly the worst idea he had ever created, he had to do whatever he could to guarantee Paige's and their child's safety.

For Paige, he was willing to do anything.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Dammit!" Happy exclaimed as she punched the table next to Sylvester's computer. "I can't get hold of Walt! He took out his goddamn comm again."

"This is bad," Sylvester opened and closed his hands as he paced about the sidewalk. "If we can't get hold of Walter, then he won't know about the bomb!"

"Not only that, but," Toby took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair, "if Walter says or does anything to piss off Hamzah, then he could trigger Hamzah to bring out one of his other identities, and if _that_ happens, who knows what kind of shit he'll pull. One of Hamzah's identities might be even _more_ a psychopath than _he_ is, and if that's the case, then I have no doubt in my mind that one of Hamzah's other selves won't hesitate to trigger that bomb. We _need_ to do something about this _now_." Toby touched his comm device and spoke quietly, "Cabe, what's your status?"

" _We're about five minutes out. Bomb squad's on its way and should be approaching only minutes after us. Once we park, we're going to evacuate the entire school, send all the kids home before doing anything else."_

"Good deal. Hurry, Cabe." Toby rubbed his temples and sighed, "Something tells me we don't have a lot of time."

"Uh guys?! Big problem!" Happy exclaimed from Sylvester's computer. "I managed to dig into those blueprints a bit further and found a hidden document detailing some unnervingly intricate stuff."

"What kind of stuff, Happy?" Toby asked as he raced over to the computer.

"If Hamzah pushes down on that kill switch, there _will_ be no evacuating the school." Happy clenched her fists, preparing herself to punch the table again.

" _What the hell does that mean?!"_ Cabe shouted into everyone's ears through the comm devices. "What do you mean there won't be any evacuation?"

"That kill switch isn't only designed to activate a timed bomb, but once the timer on the bomb is activated, it'll send out a signal to multiple pressure plates hidden throughout the elementary school. If one pressure plate is detonated, the rest will follow, and I don't think I need to tell you what'll happen afterwards." Happy ran her hands through her hair and pulled it into a ponytail before angrily slamming her fist down onto the table again.

" _So what do we do? Just stand outside the school and do nothing?!"_

"Unfortunately, yes." Happy nodded, still wanting to smash something else. "If you cause panic, children will be running everywhere, and if Hamzah activates the kill switch…"

" _Got it,"_ Cabe cut her off, not wanting to hear the rest of her statement.

"Look! There's Walter!" Sylvester pointed to the camera feed.

Toby leaned over Happy's shoulder and squinted his eyes as he analyzed the scene before him. "Walter's in defensive mode; he's trying to talk Hamzah down, convince him of something… probably to free Paige. Hamzah doesn't look like he's going to honor whatever Walter wants."

"He looks like he's thinking." Happy mumbled as she gripped the table to help her suppress her anger.

"He looks like he's _sleeping_." Sylvester blinked.

"Ohhhh no. Oh no no no no no." Toby clamped the sides of his head. "He's in transition; another identity is making its way out."

"Maybe this identity will be as harmless as a bunny," Sylvester muttered optimistically.

"Not likely," Toby shook his head. "Usually identities are created to deal with certain traumas or deal with certain unchecked desires. If Hamzah – the _real_ Hamzah – wanted revenge and was willing to do whatever was necessary to prepare for it but wasn't able to go through with what he wanted to do, then, because of his condition, he would have most likely created another self to carry out his plans for him. Think of it as a… supercharged id without the ego and the superego in check." Toby paused when they all, in silence, watched Hamzah unbutton his shirt to reveal the fake bomb he was wearing to throw Walter off from realizing what his true intentions were. Toby knew what was happening, and the moment Hamzah triggered the kill switch, Toby grabbed his hair and groaned.

"Cabe, you need to contact the school's principal right now!" Happy kicked over a chair. "He just activated the kill switch, and if he releases the button before a pressure plate is detonated, then every bomb implanted inside the school will go off at once!"

And then, out of nowhere, the ground shook as a loud blast reverberated throughout the city.

They were too late.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

I know. Evil. Heheheheh.

I PROMISE THE ENDING WILL BE A HAPPY ONE!


	8. Chapter 8

**WriterFreak001:**

I am SUPER sorry for the delayed update. Work has been busy! After I finish "Kill Switch," I will post that one shot I still have yet to write as well as a new chapter to "Poaching." I will try my ABSOLUTE HARDEST to finish "Poaching" before starting any more major works. I may write a few one shots here and there or shorter story fics (like three chapters only), but until "Poaching" is finished, I promise I won't start any more long fics. I want to finish "Poaching" as soon as possible sooo hopefully by Christmas, "Poaching" will be completed.

Forewarning: it's almost the Thanksgiving and Christmas season for me, and my job – being that it's a retail job – will require a lot of my time as the holiday seasons approach. I cannot guarantee when the next chapter of "Kill Switch" or "Poaching" will be updated, but I swear, I will not give up on these stories! I'm just super busy! X3

Anyway, shutting up now. Here's the next installment! :)

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Eight**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

Both Walter and Paige immediately directed their attentions to the windows the instant they heard the blasts. Walter, without warning, bolted from behind the counter towards a window and froze; his reaction caused Paige to blanch. Hamzah, however, was laughing manically.

"What?" Paige, alerted, tried to free herself as she struggled with her restraints. "What happened?! Walter!" She started to panic when the genius didn't respond, "What the hell happened?!"

Before he could will himself to respond, he balled up his fists and snapped his head towards Hamzah. "How. Could. You."

"Walter!" Paige was almost screaming, "WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Suddenly, the gears in Walter's head clicked, and he figured everything out. The bomb was fake. The bomb he was wearing was a fake. A FAKE! The real target… the _real_ target…. Walter, without thinking, launched for Hamzah, knowing he was no longer a real threat. Paige was screaming at him, demanding to know what the hell was going on, but Walter kept punching and punching and punching. He was shouting hysterically at Hamzah, landing his fists wherever he could. He didn't care anymore. He didn't care. He was going to punch him until the man either passed out or…

"WALTER!" Paige screeched at the top of her lungs, forcing him to stop everything he was doing. He turned towards her, looking at his girlfriend in a mixture of pain, anger and an emotion he didn't recognize. He was unsure how to tell her… how to inform her that… that…

And, in that instant, in the way he was looking at her, she knew…. She knew why there were tears brimming his eyes… why he had thrown himself at her captor… why he struggled to tell her something. "No," she wouldn't believe it. She _couldn't._ "NO!" She started trying to rip her wrists and ankles out of their constraints as she continued to scream in frustration, needing to be free. Needing to see for herself. Needing… just needing her boyfriend's look to be wrong. She had to free herself. She had to get out of here. Run out of here and find her son. She had to find her son. SHE HAD TO FIND HER SON!

Watching Paige slip into panic told him he needed to help her. He needed to help her and get the hell out of here. Hamzah could wait. Hamzah, or whoever the hell he was, could just lie there and –

Walter was suddenly punched square in the mouth and thrown backwards towards Paige. He collided with the coffee table next to Paige's chair and splintered it into multiple pieces. He groaned in pain and coddled the side of his head with one hand as he wiped his busted lip with the other. Paige, trapped in her own world of desperation, didn't even notice.

Hamzah pulled out a switchblade and grabbed a fistful of Paige's hair before pressing the blade to her neck. "Finish the transfer."

Walter stiffened and couldn't help himself from saying, "Why?" He could feel his anger rising again. "Why did you do it?!"

Hamzah didn't answer. Instead, he slowly trailed the blade down Paige's front and lightly traced it along her baby bump. Paige was completely still… completely catatonic. " _Finish_ the transfer."

Walter knew Hamzah wouldn't hesitate to harm Paige so he slowly rose to his feet and dragged himself back to the counter. "It's going to take a while," was all he said as he robotically started tapping away at the keys.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Cabe never drove so fast the instant he heard the loud booms resonating throughout the city. There was a city-wide panic; people were running left and right, scared for their lives. Flames and smoke billowed into the sky, and Cabe nearly dropped to his knees the moment he stepped out of his car to see the entire elementary school as nothing more than giant heaps of twisted metal and rubble. "Oh God," Cabe mumbled to himself as he stumbled forward. "Please don't let it be so." Firemen and policemen were assessing the sight before him, and before he could even think to talk to the officers to find out their status, he started shouting for Ralph.

The kid _had_ to be okay. He just had to be.

Cabe ignored all of the looks he was getting from the first responders and started running around the perimeter of the school. There's no way… There's just absolutely no way! "Ralph!" He funneled his mouth with his hands and shouted louder. "CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

Nothing.

"RALPH!"

Again, all Cabe heard was silen—he squinted his eyes and took off his sunglasses. Could that be…? Cabe couldn't help the incredibly wide smile finding its way to his lips as hundreds of elementary students filed out of an old, abandoned building a block away from the school. Teachers were also among the students, directing them to line up in single file so that everybody could be accounted for. Cabe couldn't run fast enough. He spotted Ralph amongst the children and raced towards him. Almost immediately, Cabe dropped down the young genius's level and pulled him in for a quick embrace before ruffling his hair.

"Hi Cabe." Ralph smiled as if nothing had just happened to his school. "Is my mom and Walter okay?"

Cabe blinked. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Yeah," Ralph cocked an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Cabe looked towards the massive pile of rubble before turning his attention back at the boy. Ralph immediately understood. "Oh. That." He then smiled. "I noticed a portion of the school walls had been de-spackled so instead of getting caught trying to investigate, I reported my findings to my principal, and she had the security guard check things out. He found a bomb so we all evacuated the building about half an hour ago and made our way towards _that_ building since it could safely house everybody."

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you, kid." Cabe grinned as he combed his fingers through Ralph's dark hair. "Everyone was so worried."

Ralph looked beyond Cabe and frowned. "So," he looked at the agent with such innocence, "Where's my mom, and where's Walter?"

Cabe frowned, knowing he couldn't lie to the boy. "There's been a situation."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

I know this chapter is relatively short (but longer than I was going to leave it), but I felt like I should give you _something_.

Off topic but still very relevant, I just want to let you know that my heart is out there for anyone and everyone affected by the bombings in Paris. There are no words to describe how upset I am that there are people, cruel, cruel people, out there in the world willing to destroy innocent lives. :(

Everyone affected by the bombings in Paris are in my prayers.


	9. Chapter 9

**WriterFreak001:**

I apologize immensely for the delay. I've been so busy with work and my online class that I've barely had time to myself. :( BUT HERE IT IS!

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Nine**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you, Ralphy-boy!" Toby exclaimed as he touched the boy's shoulder. "We were all very worried."

"That was a good eye, Ralph," Happy smirked as she extended out her hand for a high-five. "Good job."

"Thanks." Ralph spoke quietly before turning to Cabe. "How are you going to save my Mom and Walter?"

"We're still trying to figure that out, kid." Cabe answered sympathetically. We have eyes in the building, and once we come up with a plan, we'll execute it immediately." Cabe placed both hands on Ralph's shoulders and knelt down to the ground. "You have to understand that this situation is very sensitive, Ralph. The LAPD, Homeland Security and SWAT are all trying to devise a plan to save your mother and Walter, but if we act too soon, we could compromise their lives."

"Can I see the computer?" Ralph blinked as if unfazed by anything Cabe had just said. Ralph figured he should explain himself. "According to the footage we have available, Walter is at a computer. I'm assuming Mom and Walter don't know I'm alive, and such lack of information could be affecting their performances. If I can send an email to the computer Walter's working on, then we will be able to stay in contact with him while he's at the computer."

"I like it," Cabe ruffled the boy's hair and smirked. "Let's give it a try."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

There was no way Walter was going to help a psycho terrorist escape undetected, and no matter what the man's demands were, he certainly wasn't going to transfer _any_ money into Hamzah's account. He just needed to stall long enough to figure out a way to stop the deranged lunatic from harming his pregnant girlfriend. For minutes, he pretended to tap away on the keyboard to keep up pretenses, but he really had no idea how he and Paige were going to get out of this one without giving into Hamzah's demands.

He desperately needed help.

As he continued pretending to type, Walter glanced at Paige and then Hamzah. The man's blade was still lightly pressed against Paige's throat, and the way he had her by the hair sickened Walter. He felt like punching a wall or knocking something over. How _dare_ he try to get to him by going through his family! How dare he! HOW DARE HE! Before Walter could stop himself, he slammed his fist on the counter as hard as possible.

His anger did not go unnoticed by Hamzah, but the terrorist said nothing.

Walter returned his attention to the computer and was tempted just to destroy its hard drive to keep Hamzah from ever getting what he wanted, but he knew the computer would be or _could_ be his only saving grace.

"What's taking so long?" Hamzah finally asked as he threw down Paige, picked up his handgun and marched over towards the genius.

"I said it would take a while." Walter answered coldly without looking at the man. "This bank isn't the easiest system to crack," he lied. "You'll get your money as promised, but the more you talk to me and distract me from what you want me to do, the longer it'll take."

Hamzah frowned. "I want my money now."

"It's going to take some time."

"I WANT IT NOW!" he screeched as he trained his handgun on Paige. "MAKE THE TRANSFER!" He cocked his gun. "NOW!"

Walter froze as Hamzah stormed over towards Paige and shoved the nozzle against her temple. She was still unresponsive. He had no choice now. Hamzah wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Give me a minute," he clenched his teeth. "I'm almost done hacking into the system."

Though Walter could easily create a fake financial account for Hamzah and make it _seem_ authentic enough to buy some time, he didn't want to give Hamzah a chance to escape. He had to end things now.

As he was about to hack into Hamzah's account and deplete the man of his money, an email popped up on the screen. He glanced at its subject and a wave of relief washed over him. Ralph was alive. All of those children were alive. They were okay, and no one was hurt.

He inhaled a deep breath and tried to suppress a goofy grin.

And then he saw a handgun strapped to the inside of the counter's side next to his leg.

He suddenly had a plan.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

"I sent the email, but he hasn't responded yet," Ralph frowned as he stared at the screen. He then looked at Cabe. "Why wouldn't he answer?"

"He might be busy at the moment," Cabe shrugged as he watched the video feed. "Or, maybe he's finding the perfect opportunity to reply."

"I disagree," Toby mumbled as he squinted at the monitor. "He's definitely read the email. You can see how goofy he looks trying to conceal his joy from finding out Ralph and everybody else is alive."

Then suddenly they saw Walter quickly typing something, and in seconds, an email was sent to Walter's computer.

 _ **Ralph. I have a plan. Make sure Cabe has everyone ready to storm into the building. I'm going to override the bank's security system and manually unlock the doors.**_

 _ **Glad you're alive, buddy.**_

Ralph looked at Cabe, and Cabe gave the boy a small nod before calling everyone towards the entrances of the bank. Ralph had a bad feeling though. Hamzah will hear the doors open and will most likely hear the troops making their way inside. How was Walter going to keep Hamzah from killing his mom? Or from killing him?

Ralph bit his lip and stepped away from the computer.

He suddenly did not like this plan at all.

* * *

 **~ SCORPION ~**

 **WriterFreak001:**

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I think there will probably be 2 more left and then an epilogue. :)

Sorry it's so short though.


	10. Chapter 10

**WriterFreak001:**

Again, I apologize for the delay. Life has been freaking crazy at work!

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Ten**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

Walter didn't have much time, but without giving into Hamzah's demands, there was only one way out of this mess which guaranteed both Paige's and his unborn child's lives, and he hoped… _his_. After quickly arranging for the doors to unlock in five minutes, Walter carefully reached for the gun strapped to the inside of the counter and rose to his feet before tucking the weapon into his back pocket. Without saying anything, he circled around the counter and approached Hamzah with his hands in the air.

His first part of the plan was to get the psycho terrorist away from Paige.

"I did all I could," he lied as he kept his eyes trained on the gun pressed against his girlfriend's temple. "Unfortunately, hacking into the bank requires a two-step verification process, and without certain knowledge only known to the employees of this bank, completing your request is impossible."

"You're bluffing!"

"Would I lie about something like this?!" Walter threw out his hands and used his anger towards the man to fuel his deceit. "You have a gun trained on my pregnant girlfriend; why would I lie to you?!"

The room went silent for a moment before Hamzah eventually said, "What sort of information is needed?"

"A fingerprint," Walter mumbled. "This bank oversees wealthy clients day in and day out so it would make sense for the bank to be extra cautious about its money. I thought the computers had an extra touchpad connected to the hard drives, but after closer inspection, I realized they were index finger scanners. If you think I'm bluffing, you can go see for yourself." Walter stepped to the side and gestured towards the counter.

Hamzah was still for a moment, hoping the psycho would step away from Paige. Walter really didn't care if Hamzah checked the truth in his bluff or not. The scanners were there, but they weren't for the tellers. They were for the clients for a two-step process identification. (Hamzah wouldn't be able to know that upon first glance, though). While Walter anticipated Hamzah to head towards the counter, the terrorist looked towards the stairs. He lowered his gun from Paige's temple, "I'll be back. You do anything stupid, and I'll put a bullet in your girlfriend's stomach," he spat.

Walter counted the seconds as he watched Hamzah make his way towards the stairs. When the man was out of Walter's line of vision, Walter raced over to Paige, untied her restraints and clamped his hands over her cheeks. "Paige," he whispered loudly and frantically, "You need to snap out of it."

No response.

"Paige!" he shook her gently and urgently, but she still didn't respond.

Not knowing how to break her out of her trance, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the computers before carefully laying her down on the floor behind the counters. At least she would have some protection if Hamzah returned to this room.

In the event he would never see her again, the genius studied the calm features of his beautiful Paige and kissed her urgently on the mouth before whispering softly into her ear, "Ralph's alive, Paige. He's _alive_. So _please_ for your son… for our daughter, _please_ snap out of it."

Walter waited a few seconds for Paige to respond, but she didn't.

He sighed and rose to his feet after kissing her once more.

He didn't have time to wait on her.

Without a moment's thought, he made his way for the stairs and reached behind him for the gun. One way or another, he had to end this.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

"I don't understand something, Cabe," Ralph spoke quietly into his ear piece as the agent readied himself to storm inside the bank. "Something's not right."

"What's wrong, kid?" Cabe muttered without moving.

"Walter arranged for the doors to open in five minutes, two minutes ago. Why would he delay rescue?" Ralph frowned. "I don't like this."

"I can't answer that, son. I don't know what often floats inside Walter's mind, but I _do_ know he would do anything he could to protect your mother. For all we know, the five minute delay could be a stall tactic to lure the terrorist away from Paige. We need to trust that Walter knows what he's doing; his plans usually pan out…. Eventually."

"Maybe…," Ralph mumbled as he leaned back into the folding chair and glanced at the computer. Suddenly, Hamzah was leaving, and Walter was racing towards his mom. "The bad guy is leaving! Walter is helping Mom!"

"Leaving?" Toby, Happy and Sylvester chimed in unison. "That doesn't make sense," Toby added. "There's no way Hamzah would willingly leave. It doesn't fit the profile."

"Maybe he had a change of heart?" Sly threw out his hand and gestured to the screen.

"Doubt it," Toby hummed as he scratched his chin. "See the way Walt is urgently trying to snap Paige out of her trance? He's not calm at all."

"Maybe Hamzah had to go to the bathroom." Sylvester shrugged.

"Maybe…," Toby folded his arms, unsure of Sly's assessment, "but if he was going to the bathroom, he would take precautionary steps to make sure Walt wouldn't do anything stupid. Something tells me Hamzah walking away is part of Walter's wacky plan." Toby paused as the team watched Walter passionately kiss Paige (still a sight none but Ralph were used to yet) and tried informing her Ralph was alive.

The young mother didn't move.

A few seconds passed before Walter kissed her again. When he rose to his feet, Happy frowned. "Not good."

"What's wrong, Hap?" Toby cocked an eyebrow and turned his attention to the woman as the others looked at her as well.

Happy pointed to Walter's backside. "There's a gun lodged into his back pocket. If he's thinking what I think he's thinking, he's going to confront Hamzah and try to end this once and for all."

"Walter's going to kill Hamzah?" Ralph's eyes were wide as he looked at Toby for reassurance.

"No…," Toby really wasn't sure _what_ Walter was planning, but surely Walter wouldn't take a life. It was against anything and everything he stood for. "I'm sure it's just to scare Hamzah… or something."

"He really doesn't know, though," Happy audibly uttered under her breath. "When Walter's emotions are involved, anything is bound to happen."

"But…," Sylvester felt sick, "kill?"

"I don't think Walter would kill Hamzah. As I said before," Toby took of his hat and squinted at the screen, "murder is against everything 197 stands for. He's trying to save lives, not destroy them. If he ended up killing Hamzah, it would haunt him for the rest of his life."

Ralph was the first to speak after several long seconds. "Walter won't kill Hamzah," the young genius smiled. "I trust him."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

Yes, I know, another short chapter. I just wanted to give you guys a little something for being patient with me. I _hope_ the next update won't take as long, but no promises! Anyway, please let me know what you think. About one more chapter and an epilogue! :D


	11. Chapter 11

**WriterFreak001:**

I was going to write a New Year's Eve special, but I couldn't get what I wanted to write out on paper. :/ Perhaps inspiration will come to me within the next few days. ANYWAY, here is the next, long, overdue (sorry, heh) chapter of _Kill Switch_. I will be updating _Poaching_ next so… look for it! :)

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

 **Special Note:**

I don't know if I've made this clear in other chapters, but… though Hamzah is from the Middle East, he has an American English accent because, after spending so long in the states, he dropped his native accent.

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Eleven**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

Walter had a plan, but the odds were _not_ in his favor this time. He didn't want to kill Hamzah, but if he had to, he would if it meant keeping Paige and their unborn child safe. He would do anything to protect his family. _Absolutely anything_.

Paige… Ralph… His child… They were all worth him going against everything he stood for in order to protect them. If he died in the process? So be it. As long as they were safe… That was all that mattered to him.

Nothing else.

Slowly, the genius crept down the stairs and spotted Hamzah struggling to open the vault where he had killed (supposedly) all of the hostages earlier in the day. Walter had the nerve to smirk and internally patted himself on the back for resetting the bank's security code when he scheduled the doors to unlock. Breaking into that vault, for Hamzah, would be completely impossible. Only Walter knew the new access code, and, if he had to, he would take it to his grave, knowing full well that Ralph or Sly would be able to override it in his absence.

To distract the man, Walter bravely spoke. Anything to keep him away from his pregnant girlfriend. "You won't succeed," he muttered in a chilly, dark whisper. "Homeland… the LAPD…, S.W.A.T. and most likely the National Guard are all outside, waiting to take you down. In a matter of minutes, officers will storm inside this bank and will kill you. You might as well give up."

"And if I don't?" Hamzah, responding way too calmly for Walter's liking, turned towards Walter and sent the genius an unnerving smirk.

Walter inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly. "If you don't," the genius pursed his lips, hesitantly reached for the sidearm tucked behind him, and pointed its nozzle towards Hamzah. "If you don't," he repeated quietly as he kept his weapon trained on the terrorist, "I'll have to stop you." Walter cocked the gun and carefully advanced Paige's captor. "And don't you think I won't," he spat as he carefully approached the burglar, "because I _will_."

"You can't shoot me if you don't have a gun," Hamzah replied quickly and quietly before kicking the sidearm out of Walter's hand and sending it flying towards the wall. Before the genius had time to react, Hamzah rammed his fist into Walter's stomach, and the impact sent him to his knees as he doubled over in excruciating pain and began coughing out blood. "And thanks to you," Hamzah's lips twisted to a smirk as he slowly made his way to the stairs, "I'm going to have some fun with that fucking whore upstairs."

Walter shot a glare at Hamzah as the psycho terrorist eagerly ascended the stairs, and by the time he was standing at the top of the steps, Walter found himself charging the man and knocking him over. "The hell you will!" He forced all of his weight on top of Hamzah before sitting on top of the man. With one knee pressing hard against the terrorist's stomach, Walter started blindly throwing punches at Hamzah. He didn't care what or where he was hitting, only that his fists were making contact with the lunatic's face.

He punched and he punched and he punched and he punched without holding back. Blood splattered from Hamzah's nose, but Walter didn't care. He wasn't going to let Hamzah free until he was either unconscious or… or… or…

"WALTER!"

 **~ SCORPION ~**

 _Five minutes ago…_

"Ralphy-boy," Toby, who was extremely worried about his friend, Walter, muttered as he hovered over the young boy's shoulder, "can you find a camera on the first floor so we can have eyes in there?"

"I've been looking for one for the past two minutes, but I haven't had any luck yet." Ralph, with eyes glued to the screen, mumbled quietly.

"The odds," Sylvester pushed up his glasses and turned his attention to Toby, "of it taking this long to find one, though, most likely means there isn't a computer on in the lower level of the bank." Sylvester sighed. "There's a less than 10% chance we'll find _anything_ usable."

"Hang on," Happy suddenly glanced at the guys and cocked an eyebrow. "Ping Paige's phone…. If I remember correctly, she dropped it when Walter was still on the line. If it's still there and has some juice, we can use it as a conduit and listen in on what's going on in the lower level of the bank…. It's worth a shot, at least."

"Give me one sec," Ralph replied quietly and began tapping at the keys. "I'm in. I'm going to call the phone and then answer it with the manual override from the computer; we should be able to know what's going on in there in seconds."

The team stood still as Ralph contacted his mother's phone, and when he patched through, they all leaned in and focused on the background noises. For the most part, all they could hear were loud thuds and painful grunts, quickly deducing that Walter and Hamzah were duking it out. Then a voice spoke, but they couldn't quite make it out. Happy was about to suggest running a filter through the feed, but her thoughts were cut short when they all heard Walter screaming in pain.

And then there was nothing.

"Mom's phone must have died," Ralph slammed his hand against the desk and leaned back into his chair. He turned to look at the other monitor and saw could see his mother resting behind the counter. She was still catatonic. "We need to wake my mom up. We still have two minutes before the doors unlock, and a lot can happen in two minutes. If we can wake her up, I can walk her through overriding Walter's code and have the bank doors open sooner than Walter's five minute delay."

Cabe frowned. "Can't you just override the code from out here?"

"No," Happy, Toby, Ralph and Sylvester replied in unison as all of them glanced at the agent. "Overriding the code needs to be completed internally," Ralph continued as he pointed to the computer monitor. If we try hacking into the system and override the security code from the outside, the bank doors would most likely be prompted to go on full lockdown, and entering the building from out here will become virtually impossible."

"Then wake Paige up. She needs to know her son is alive, kid." Cabe placed his hand on Ralph's shoulder and smiled. "Now, if you need me, I'll be over there," he pointed to the SWAT team lining up at the door. "No way in hell I'm not charging in to save Walter and Paige. I'm going to show this Hamzah guy what it really means to piss Scorpion off." As the agent started to leave, Happy called for him, and he turned around when he heard his name. "What is it, Happy?"

Happy inhaled a deep breath and said, "Kick that bastard's ass."

Cabe smirked. "Oh, don't worry. I plan on it."

As Cabe walked away, Toby touched Ralph's shoulders and leaned over him. "Okay, so besides Walter, Paige will probably… most likely… respond to _your_ voice, Ralphy-boy so you need to call out to her… make her realize you didn't die in that blast."

"Okay," Ralph quietly nodded and turned on the small mic connected to the computer. "Mom…? Can you hear me…?

 **~ SCORPION ~**

" _Can you hear me, Mom?"_

" _Ralph?" she blinked and rubbed her eyes before pulling her son into her arms for a tight hug. "Oh my God! I thought you were…"_

" _Mom," her sweet baby pulled away from her. "You need to wake up."_

" _What are you talking about, baby?" She combed her fingers through his hair and kissed the top of his head. She chuckled and said, "I'm wide awake."_

" _Wake up, Mom. You need to wake up."_

" _Ralph… I don't understand…."_

" _Mom!" his sudden shout startled her, and she fell backwards. "Wake up!"_

"WAKE UP!"

Paige's eyes popped open, and she immediately sprang forward to the sound of her son's voice. "R-Ralph?!"

"Mom," Ralph's voice danced into her ears, and she rose to her feet, instantly remembering where she was. "I th-thought," she inhaled a deep breath and fought the urge to cry, "I thought you were dead."

"I'm fine, Mom," Ralph answered gently. "Now, there's not much time. Walter is in trouble, and you need to override Walter's code to open the security doors. If we don't get personnel inside the building, it could be too late when the doors open."

Paige combed her fingers through her hair and nodded. "W-what do I do? A-and where are you?!"

"I'm outside with Happy, Toby and Sly. Cabe is with SWAT, prepared to barge inside once the doors open. I'm communicating via Skype on the computer to your left. I have remote access to all of the computers, but I need _you_ to override Walter's code because the override will have to come from inside the bank. You need to m—"

Suddenly, a loud, shrilling scream filled the room, and in seconds, Walter was knocking Hamzah to the ground. He threw his fists at him and punched him hard in the nose. He punched him and again and again and again, and as her captor coughed up blood, Paige knew she had to do something.

She had to stop Walter. She had to stop him before he ended up killing the man.

She needed to save him.

Ignoring her son's pleas to start overriding the code, Paige spotted the switchblade Hamzah had dropped earlier and picked it up. Carefully, she held it out in front of her and approached her boyfriend slowly.

He was still punching her captor, not noticing her presence. "Walter," she calmly spoke as she dropped the switchblade and fell to her knees beside him. "Walter?" He didn't respond nor stop punching the man.

And when she saw the lifelessness in Hamzah's eyes, she gripped Walter's shoulder and shouted his name.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

I'm not sure about this chapter…, but I'm pretty satisfied with it. :) There will be at least one more chapter left, and probably an epilogue, but I'm interested in hearing your theories about what will happen next! :D Please review! :)


	12. Chapter 12

**WriterFreak001:**

I apologize immensely for the delay. I struggled dearly with this story, but I think you'll be satisfied with this chapter. I hope.

* * *

 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

* * *

 _ **Last time: **_

She had to stop Walter. She had to stop him before he ended up killing the man.

She needed to save him.

Ignoring her son's pleas to start overriding the code, Paige spotted the switchblade Hamzah had dropped earlier and picked it up. Carefully, she held it out in front of her and approached her boyfriend slowly.

He was still punching her captor, not noticing her presence. "Walter," she calmly spoke as she dropped the switchblade and fell to her knees beside him. "Walter?" He didn't respond nor stop punching the man.

And when she saw the lifelessness in Hamzah's eyes, she gripped Walter's shoulder and shouted his name.

* * *

 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Part Twelve**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

Paige slowly fluttered her eyes open to blinding light and groaned as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. There were monitors everywhere, and she instantly realized she was in the hospital. Tiny beeping noises pulsed from all around her, and though she didn't understand them, she knew they each had a purpose, telling the doctors and nurses different things about her body, but she only wanted to know one thing: was her baby going to be okay?

She inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly as she slid her palms to her lower abdomen, hoping, wishing, and yearning for answers. There had been too many close calls when that man… that horrible, terrible man… had threatened to kill her baby, and now that it was all over, now that he was forever out of their lives, she needed to know… needed to be sure nothing had happened to her baby.

"Oh, hey, you're up," Toby, who was sitting in a seat next to her hospital bed, smiled as he stood up and touched her hand. "How are you feeling?"

Paige swallowed thickly and spoke slowly. "How's my baby?"

Toby squeezed her hand and grinned stupidly. "Your child is going to be just fine. That kid's a strong one."

Paige released the breath she didn't know she was holding as her lips quivered. "Oh, Thank God." She closed her eyes and covered them with her arm to keep Toby from seeing her tears. "I was so scared… He c-could have k-killed my baby!"

"But he didn't," Toby said reassuringly. "He didn't, Paige, and he's not going to. Cabe made sure of that."

Then Paige remembered the school bombing and tensed. "Ralph. Where's Ralph?! I _need_ to see him! NOW!" She started to push herself off of the hospital bed and almost succeeded in ripping off the wires and tubing attached to her, but Toby promptly stopped her and eased her back down.

"Ralph will be here shortly," Toby said calmly. "He's with Hap, and they're grabbing some breakfast. Just relax, Paige, and try to think about pleasant things."

"I can't," she shook her head as another onset of tears fell from her eyes. "I need to hold my son. I need to hold my baby boy and never let him go."

Toby took off his hat and placed it on the chair next to him as he nodded. "I understand."

Paige released another shaky breath and slowly found Toby's eyes again. "Where's Walter?"

"He'll be back soon as well. He's getting his hands treated; he broke a few fingers during his altercation with the psycho-killer, and even though he tried to refuse treatment because he didn't want to leave you alone, I volunteered to stay here, and Cabe managed to persuade Walter to have them looked at. Other than 197's hands, psycho-killer broke a few of his ribs, but they were minor breaks so no surgery needed."

Paige nodded and opened her mouth to say something else, but Ralph and Happy walked in with McDonalds to-go bags in their arms. Ralph beamed the moment he noticed his mother was awake, and he immediately placed the bags down on the chair with next to Toby's hat and ran up to her. He carefully hugged her and she, to the best of her ability, wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Let's leave them alone for a while, doc." Happy said as she gestured for Toby to pick up the to-go bags Ralph had discarded. "We can eat in the hallway or go down to the cafeteria."

"Okay. Good idea." Toby mumbled quietly as he picked up the to-go bags, just as she had instructed, and followed her out the door.

And when Paige was finally alone with her son and her unborn child, she couldn't help but cry as she held her baby boy in her arms.

She wished the nightmares could end.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Walter had been silent the entire time his hands had been treated, and only after the doctor left to tend to other patients did he finally speak. "When you've killed someone," he slowly looked at Cabe, "does it ever go away?"

"First of all," Cabe gestured for Walter to follow him to the hallway, "you didn't kill anybody, Walter. You didn't kill him."

"I know, but…," the man shrugged, "at first, I thought I did..., and during those seconds of not knowing… I felt like I was drowning…, and I hated it." He paused before adding, "I hate him for what he had done to Paige… to those innocent people… to everyone affected by his psychotic behavior, but most of all, I hate him because he _could_ have killed our child, and by extension, Paige. He _almost_ killed Ralph and hundreds of students, and he didn't even care. He might have been a sick man, but I hate him so much that I had almost killed him. And if it wasn't for Paige, I would have, and that's a scary thought."

"You were protecting your family, Walter. Don't be too hard on yourself." Cabe sighed as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I would have done the same thing, kid, but I wouldn't have used my fists." Cabe paused as he caught Walter's attention, "I'd have used my gun."

"But that's where you and I are different," Walter spoke softly. "If I had the choice, I wouldn't have lost control like I did. I wouldn't have tried to kill him. Sure, I hated him, and I still hate him, but I hate myself even more for losing control. Too many lives have already been lost at my expense, and I don't want to cause any more death no matter who it is. I shouldn't have lost control."

"Sometimes we aren't given that option, Walter." Cabe said quietly. "In certain situations, you almost never have a choice; you just act on your God-given instinct and hope to God things work in your favor. And things _did_ work in your favor, Walter. Perhaps it's not the way you would have wanted it, but you should be grateful. Your girlfriend, and your unborn baby are okay. Paige is going to be shaken up for a while, but physically, she's fine. A few bruises here and there, but no major injuries. You did _good_ with your hands, Walter. By taking down Hamzah, you saved lives and prevented him from killing any more people."

Walter was silent for a few minutes before he eventually said, "But he still almost died by my hands, Cabe. And not by accident, either. If it could happen once, it's bound to happen again."

"Son," Cabe touched Walter's shoulder as they approached Paige's hospital room, "killing is never easy, but sometimes it's necessary for the greater good. You know that."

Walter nodded slowly, knowing Cabe was right. Sometimes it _was_ necessary, but Walter O'Brien wasn't a killer. He didn't have to lose his anger with Hamzah, but he did. He didn't have to throw himself at the psychopath…, but he did. Walter, after seconds of silence, found Cabe's sincere eyes and muttered, "How do you get past something like this?"

"I wish I had an answer for you, Walter, but I don't. Those kinds of memories never really go away; they just fade with time, but they're always there, waiting to be remembered again."

Walter stopped walking and stared at his casted fingers. "I don't want to remember it."

"I know you don't," Cabe gently squeezed the genius's shoulder as they continued walking. "But you have to remember, Walter, you were protecting your family, and I know Paige, Ralph and your unborn child are the most important people in your life. I also know you would do anything to protect them, even if it's not the most rational approach." Cabe softly laughed. "Then again, when family is in jeopardy," the two men stopped short of the hospital room and saw Paige holding onto Ralph as she cried against him, "hardly any of our decisions ever is."

Walter couldn't disagree. He was prepared to sacrifice himself – if needed – to save Paige, Ralph, and his unborn child from _any_ threatening situation. Their lives mattered more to him than his own, and he would always choose to save them. There was no doubt about it. "Do you think Paige will be mad?"

"About what?"

"About me almost killing a man."

"No." Cabe shook his head slowly. "I don't think she'll be mad."

"What about Ralph?" Walter glanced at Cabe. "I'm supposed to be a role model for him…."

"Walter," Cabe folded his arms and stood squarely in front of him. "Don't try to find ways or excuses to beat yourself up. Give Paige and Ralph more credit; they know you enough to understand your actions, and they both love you dearly. Trust me; they won't be mad."

Walter inhaled a deep sigh and released it slowly. "I hope you're right."

"I am right."

"… We'll see."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Paige inhaled a shaky breath and kissed her trembling lips to the top of Ralph's forehead as he slept soundly in her arms. She hated herself. She absolutely hated herself. She had been weak. She had unintentionally convinced her captor to kill all of those people. All of those people were dead because of her… because she couldn't stay strong… because she couldn't stop him… because she was afraid he would kill her baby. And he would have, too. She saw it in his eyes, those horrifying, bone-chilling eyes of hate laced with satisfaction. He _enjoyed_ killing those people, and it was all her fault.

She was the reason they were dead.

And she hated herself for it.

"Hey."

Paige slowly met her boyfriend's eyes as he sat down next to her, and her puffy eyes welled with tears again. Walter wanted to touch her face, to hold her cheeks and tell her she safe again… that they were all safe again, but those damn contraptions wrapped around his broken hands prevented him from consoling her. He hated not being able to hold her.

Carefully, he leaned forward and traced his pointer finger – one of two fingers that didn't break on his left hand – along her jaw, moving slowly from her ear to the corner of her mouth before he gently covered her mouth with his and kissed her lips softly.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

* * *

 **WriterFreak001:**

All right! One more chapter left! :)


	13. Epilogue

**WriterFreak001:**

Sorry for the delay. Real Life got in the way. ANYWAY, here is the final chapter (finally), and in case I didn't make it clear in earlier chapters, Paige was three months pregnant at the beginning of the fic.

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 **Title** | Kill Switch

 **Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

 **Description** | Paige, among twenty other people, is being held hostage by a band of thieves at a local LA bank. The team must figure out a way to save everybody without endangering anyone's life, but when the thieves up the stakes exponentially, Scorpion might not be able to save everyone in time.

 **Rating** | This fanfiction will be rated M.

 **POV** | Limited Third Person

 **Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_ , I am the owner of this masterpiece.

 **Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

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 **Kill Switch**

 **Written by WriterFreak001**

 **Epilogue**

 **~ S** **CORPION ~**

"I can't believe they're doing this," Toby muttered to his girlfriend as he watched his nervous-as-hell friend anxiously stand in front of a crowd of fiftysome people.

"You can't believe they're getting married?"

"No," Toby shook his head and frowned, "I can't believe they're doing this without a wedding party. Sly and I should be standing up there with Walter, and you should be up there with Paige, but nooooo, Walter didn't see a reason for groomsmen, and Paige didn't want to make you uncomfortable. Can you believe that!? We should be up there, Hap!"

"Quit your whining, Doc.," Happy rolled her eyes dramatically and hooked her arm around his to calm him down. "Walter's right. There's really no point for groomsmen. Nor bridesmaids. They just stand there and look pretty, while the groom and the bride shine their asses off. Also, I admire Paige for considering my feelings; it _would_ be awkward and uncomfortable to stand in front of a bunch of strangers in a dress I would most likely burn later. I'd rather be sitting here, amongst the crowd of people, rather than up there on display like a Barbie Doll."

"You would make a beautiful Barbie Doll, you know." Toby smirked, and Happy, once again, rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," she nodded towards Cabe, who was sitting to the far left of them, "At least we don't have baby duty."

"Walter and Paige only entrusted Cabe with Nichole because it was," Toby curled his fingers, "'efficient.' Among all of us, Cabe's the only one who knows how to take care of a baby without accidentally dropping her, and he's probably the only one who knows how to change diapers, too."

"I understand why Walter and Paige gave Nichole to Cabe, you moron," Happy jabbed his rips with his elbow. "I'm _just_ saying, I'm glad we don't have to deal with the tiny, mewling mutant. I swear she cries more than she breathes."

"She's a baby, Hap. Baby's cry."

"I know," Happy nodded, "but she's just so damn loud when she cries."

Toby smirked. "Kind of like her father when he's angry."

That comment made the woman smile a little. "I guess."

"Look at the brighter side," Toby chuckled as he pulled Happy closer to him, "At least you don't have to listen to Nichole's screeching cries during the night. Now _that's_ brutal; I swear… Walter and Paige must be on 5-hour energy. That's the only explanation for having this wedding so soon after Nichole's birth."

"I do think I saw Walter drinking a whole pot of coffee this morning when I came into the garage to grab a few things off of my desk," Happy grinned slowly. "And I _think_ Cabe gave Paige a latte as she was giving him Nichole."

"Damn," Toby snickered quietly, "Those two are going to have one hell of a wedding night. Wouldn't be surprised if Baby O'Brien Numero Dos rolled down the tube in nine months."

"Either that, or they're going to crash before they get to the nasty," Happy mused, making her boyfriend snort.

"Oh, God." Toby struggled to stifle his laughter. "Am I a bad person for actually wanting that to happen, now?"

"No," Happy shrugged. "It would be pretty funny, and it would be one hell of a wedding night to remember."

"Or _not_ remember since they'll most likely be passed out before they're even out of their clothes." Toby sneered as he lightly turned his head towards his girlfriend and kissed her temple. "Remind me, tomorrow, to ask them about their night, okay?"

"They won't be at the office tomorrow, dumbass," Happy hissed. "Remember? They're going on a cruise for a week-long honeymoon, remember?"

"Oh, right." Toby mentally smacked his head. "Then remind me when they get back to ask them how their first night was."

"Well, it wouldn't _be_ their first night," Happy muttered quietly as people filed into the row of chairs in front of them. "Nichole is proof of that."

"You know what I meant," Toby rolled his eyes, and Happy softly giggled.

"You're too easy, sometimes."

 **~ SCORPION ~**

Paige couldn't believe she was actually doing this. She was _actually_ marrying Walter Patrick O'Brien, paramount of all geniuses. Seven months ago, she never thought this day would come. She never thought all of this would be possible, but here she was… clad in a lavender wedding dress, a month after her daughter was born, just minutes away from marrying the love of her life.

Seven months ago, a lot of things could have gone very differently, and though she still had nightmares every once in a while, the horrible memories were slowly fading away. She was so grateful to be alive… for Nichole to be alive… for Walter and Ralph to be alive. And now, in a few minutes, they were all going to be a part of something great, and she couldn't wait to be Mrs. Paige Dineen O'Brien.

"Mom?"

Paige shook away her thoughts and slowly opened the door as she revealed herself to her son. "Yes?"

"You look…," Ralph beamed, "very happy."

A colorful smile found the young mother's lips, and she leaned over to kiss her son's forehead. "Thank you, baby."

"Are you ready?" He offered his arm, and she grinned even wider.

"Yes, sweetie." She ruffled his hair and then hooked her arm around his. "I'm ready."

"Good," Ralph laughed, "because I don't think Walter can wait anymore."

"Neither can I."

…

It was finally happening.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

He couldn't believe he was marrying Paige Dineen.

If someone, years ago, had told him he would be in love with a beautiful, intelligent woman and would be marrying her and having children with her, he would have laughed in his face and told him he was being ridiculous.

But it wasn't ridiculous.

Nothing about it was ridiculous.

He now understood loss and what it could potentially be like if he ever lost Paige, Ralph, or Nichole, and he never wanted something like the bank crisis to ever happen again.

He was determined to always protect his family from danger no matter what.

And though he still had nightmares from almost losing Paige, Ralph, and Nichole, he was glad they were _only_ that… _nightmares_. He could handle nightmares.

He couldn't handle reality.

As he continued to wait for her, he wanted to pace about the platform, but he was instructed to stay still and focus on the aisle. Hell, forget pacing; he was tempted to drag the Justice of Peace down the aisle, find Paige, and marry her wherever the hell she was because he absolutely hated waiting. He hated not being in control of the situation as more and more people – people _he_ wasn't even sure he knew – filed into the audience.

He had his hands jammed into his pockets, and though he had been instructed to keep his focus on the aisle, he stared at the ground instead. And for minutes upon minutes, he didn't move. He didn't even know the ceremony had started until the music – he really couldn't remember the name of the piece – broke him from his laser focus. Immediately (and almost instinctively), Walter's attention snapped to Paige's as she slowly entered the room with Ralph effortlessly guiding her to him.

Walter was at a loss for words; he had never seen the mother of his children so beautiful, and he found it a little hard to breathe. Paige and Ralph, when they were a few feet from him, stopped, and Ralph smiled. "Hi, Walter. Here's my mom. She's yours now."

Paige, among other guests, giggled at the boy's response, and she stepped up onto the platform before taking his sweaty, clammy hands in her smooth, soft ones. "You ready?" Still unsure he trusted himself to speak, Walter nodded swiftly, encouraging Paige to smile happily. "Good," she grinned. "Let's do this thing, then."

…

And they did.

They killed it.

 **~ SCORPION ~**

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 **WriterFreak001:**

I know, I know, this ending probably wasn't what you were expecting, and it most likely felt rushed, but it's what I had on my mind for a few days. I didn't want to dwell on so many chapters of Paige's pregnancy or of the baby being born so I thought I would start the story months later, after the baby was born, at the start of their wedding. I could elaborate further, but I like the way this story ended; felt like it needed a happier chapter in the midst of all of the sadder, frustrating ones.

Please let me know what you thought about the story as a whole! :) :) :)


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